


Even If The Universe Falls Apart

by sarcastic_fangirl01



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Aliens, Angst, Anxiety, But there's also fluff hidden here I swear, Case Fic, Gen, Mentions of Blood, Pararibulitis (Dirk Gently), Slow Burn, Third Season-esque, and yes the universe has its own tag, it kinda deserves it, plays a big role here, space, the damage is done, we'll never know, will i ever learn how to tag stuff?, yup we're really going there guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-06-10 05:32:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 116,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15284751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcastic_fangirl01/pseuds/sarcastic_fangirl01
Summary: When reality is in danger, a message is spread all over the Universe: The promise of pain that will overcome everyone in the Cosmos. And on the verge of the end of the world, only one man can save us all. His name is Dirk Gently.A dysfunctional trio, a powerful pack, a missing girl, highly intelligent children, several people disappeared, a backward clock, loads of ketchup and three words:Everything is connected.





	1. I. Going to the Bahamas to avoid the Universe will.

Usually, they didn’t feel like that. The language in which the Universe spoke rarely was that clear. It had only two ways to inform him of its desires. The most annoying was the _feelings_. They were cryptic, and the most impossible thing he’d ever experienced. They usually were a warm sensation when something was right, a cold one when things were wrong, and multiple other ways to tell him where to go, what to do and who to talk to. Of course for their several interpretations they weren’t always the most helpful. The others, were the _signs_. Symbols written in a language only people like Dirk could understand―and sometimes, only Dirk. They were displayed in front of him as numbers, or letters from a dead tongue, that only his eyes could see and read almost-perfectly. Those were the pleasant ones, and unluckily, the ones he had the least.

But this… this was nothing he’d ever felt or seen. This time, there was no guessing, no interpretation. Four words. As simple as that, and yet, way more terrifying than his worst nightmares. Like a memory, the juxtaposition of those four words showed up burning under his eyelids in the darkness of his sleep. Four words that incited an acute pain in his chest that soon got to his throat.

 

“I’M COMING FOR YOU”

 

And then he was awake, torn away from his dreams by the panic that started to rose up inside him. He couldn’t breathe, the air stuck in his throat as he desperately tried to push it down. _“I’m coming for you”._ His hands were shaking in a way that he couldn’t feel them, even as he dragged them over this neck to try to _breathe_. He was drowning. _“I’m coming for you”._ His chest ached, it ached too much. It felt like burning, as if a fire had  destroyed his lungs and that was the reason the air wouldn’t go in. Shadows threatened to shallow him in the already dark room, and he _couldn’t see_. He wanted to run, he wanted to escape, but deep down he knew that it was impossible to run away from the Universe. _“I’m coming for you”._

Suddenly, he heard his door fly open, and two steadier hands ran over his body. They ended up in his own hands, trying to calm him down as the owner of the hands said some words.

“Hey, Dirk, it’s alright, you’re alright man.”

Todd’s voice sent a wave of freshness through his body, but he couldn’t stop. They were going to find him. They were probably already there. They were going to get him. Todd took a tight grip in both of his arms to steady them and forced Dirk to look right into his eyes. They were pretty awake.

“Hey. Dirk! They’re not here. Whatever it is, it’s, not here. It’s not real. I promise. Is just a nightmare!”

He nodded, eyes still itching and open wide. His breath was uneven, but at still he could breathe. However, the presence of another person made it easier to deal with the panic, which had started to calm down. Todd pulled him in for a hug and whispered some comfort words to him. Dirk clenched his trembling hands on Todd’s t-shirt. He was crying. He closed his eyes, letting him get dragged by Todd’s words in his ear.

Eventually, the shaking stopped for the most part, and his lungs worked acceptably. Dirk let go of Todd, sitting on the left side of his bed as he ran his quivering hands across his face. He took a few minutes to fully recover from the attack. In that time, Todd had gone to turn on the light and went back to sitting next to him, giving Dirk the space needed but close enough to offer comfort if required. Things started to fall into place as the image of his bedroom offered him some sort of control over the situation. They sat in silence, waiting for the right time to speak.

Dirk licked his lips and opened his mouth to talk, failing miserably.

“Take your time,” Todd said. Being out of danger now, more relaxed, he noticed the huskiness in his voice. It probably was because of the sleep.

Dirk gulped and let the quiet words out, “Sorry for waking you up.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Todd smirked at his side and pushed Dirk’s leg with his.

They stayed like that, Dirk feeling more relaxed every second. Todd, expectant.

“So,” he carefully said, “you wanna talk about it?”

“It was just a dream,” he shook his head.

“Well, of course idiot. But it wasn’t, well, ‘just a dream’,” he said, using air-quotes in the last three words. “So, was it a Blackwing nightmare, or a Universe nightmare?”

Dirk felt how the shadows wanted to take control of his head again.

“I-I don’t really, want to, talk. Not now, at least.”

Todd sighed. Dirk didn’t want to disappoint his best friend, but if he tried to express what he saw, he didn’t know how that would turn out. Surely not good. But Todd didn’t look upset either, just tired.

“Okay, good, I’m not really awake to help either.” He saw him glance at the clock by his bed. “Besides, it’s like six in the morning, so it’s already late to go to sleep.”

They had to go to the agency at seven, and Dirk silently agreed one hour of sleep wasn’t going to do any miracle. And going back to the darkness of his room wasn’t so comfortable either.

“I have an idea,” Todd said, standing from the bed and stretching his arms. “Why don’t I go and make us breakfast and you go pick a movie?”

“Really?” he frowned. Todd rarely let him choose on that. Something about him not being so educated in pop culture.

“Yeah, I need my coffee so bad I don’t care if you choose another Disney movie.”

Dirk didn’t have the energy to tell him they were pieces of art. Instead, he stood up and went straight to the living room, where Mona was waiting for him in the shape of a fluffy blue blanket.

When they finally established the Detective Agency, they decided to use the rest of the money to rent new flats nearer to the building, since Todd’s place was inhabitable because of the Rowdy 3 and Farah’s was too far. To not spend all the money, Dirk and Todd decided to share one while Farah rented another on the floor above them. In result, Mona had moved with them, becoming a part of their furniture, decoration and sometimes even clothes. Dirk often thought she was the psychic one, as every shape she had was exactly what they needed at that moment.

When Todd finally sat down at the other end of the couch, he handed him his cup of tea while he himself drank his own mug of coffee. Now, Dirk felt how the tightness inside his chest started to disappear, but he knew it wouldn’t last that long.

In fact, when they arrived at the agency an hour later, the sole thought of telling Farah about it made his hands start to tremble again. Luckily, Todd had noticed this and decided to take the subject in his own hands. As soon as they arrived at the building, he informed Farah about the situation.

Dirk tried to explain very carefully what he had seen. For the record, he did it without hyperventilating, so it was a victory in some way. Both Todd and Farah remained silent after he finished, which left him with a bit of anxiety by the look they shared.

“Look, I don’t even know what it means,” Dirk tried to dissipate the tension in the air. “It probably isn’t what we think.”

“Do you realize you woke up screaming, right?” Todd reminded him.

“Well, if you put it that way…”

“And you were crying. Dirk, is not like it meant nothing. It has to have some meaning.”

He nodded defeated. He understood that his reaction wasn’t really helping him right now, but he wanted it so desperately to be just another bad night. His hunches never felt like this, not even other dreams. They were less… painful.

Farah, who had stayed quiet until now, started to pace in between the desks. Dirk noticed she was in the middle of what he called ‘the planning stage’. By the frown on the face and the look in her eyes, it was evident her brain was working on some strategy.

“Well, it’s more than clear this is a holistic thing, right? So… maybe it is a case?”

“Definitely not,” he shook his head. “This felt different from other times. Way more violent.”

“If it’s not a case, could it be…?” Farah left the words in the air, letting them all fill the gap in their minds. Blackwing. But Dirk said it was impossible, no one there had that kind of power, not even the other projects. It could only be a message right from the Universe.

And Dirk was scared of it.

“In all seriousness, Dirk, don’t you think this deserves at least one try?” Todd insisted. “Who knows, maybe this time we find something valuable to the job.”

“What do you mean? The work is going perfectly fine.”

“Yeah, tell it to our client. Oh, wait,” he raised a finger, “we don’t have one.”

Dirk thought the sassy tone was excessive, but Todd was right. Sadly, things weren’t as great as he thought they would be. The CIA had covered every proof of the cases they solved―with awesome efficiency, he may say―because they could make people aware of things they shouldn’t be aware of, so any recognition Dirk could’ve had disappeared with them. Stupid government and their tries to ruin his life. That added to the incredulity of the people about his holistic methods didn’t really help with the business.

Now, a year after the Cardenas case, they were trying to survive with minor cases and part-time jobs. The last part didn’t work out very well for Dirk though. He tried something simple as a flower shop but apparently even that was too much for him. And after the accident with the bees and the dog… he wasn’t so enthusiastic to try that again. So he would take care of the detective work while his two other friends earned money in the traditional way.

 “The thing is… it wasn’t like a hunch. Something tells me this is a pretty bad idea, and if my presentiments are right, which they generally are, all this could end up horrible both for me and for a considerable number of people who should not be involved. The Universe is _never_ kind, it doesn’t help me. I don’t have a single idea of what bloody threat is coming after me, but what I do know is it’s not something I would be glad to find on purpose.”

“Well, I guess that is important too,” Todd stood by his side, “but are you still going to ignore it?”

“You know what happened the last time we tried that,” Farah followed cautiously to not startle him. They knew Dirk could get nervous pretty quickly if he felt overwhelmed. “Even if Bergsberg was good, I would like to have a little more of preparation this time.”

Dirk slowly blew the air through his nose, his hands clenching by his sides, “You don’t understand what is on risk.”

“There’s nothing on risk,” Todd frowned with a reassuring smile. He turned to Farah, seeking for her support. She nodded instantly. “You know we’re not going anywhere, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“You’re right,” he suddenly stood up from where he was comfortably leaning on, pointing at both of his friends with his eyes open in a mix of fear and anxiousness. “you’re not leaving. But since when do we choose where we stay? You said it Farah, our last case is the perfect proof: The world does not care about us. At all.” His breathing was getting a little fast. He closed his eyes to control it. “I’ve already been in this situation. Thousands of times. The people that had left me before, didn’t always do so because they wanted to. Some of them ran away, others were kidnapped. Others just… died. I-I don’t want that to happen again. Not to you.” Dirk gulped nervous, his voice grazing the desperation, “What if Farah steps into a bomb and explodes all over the place? Or if someone grabs Mona and takes her far away from us? What if Todd’s eaten by a radioactive Unicorn?”

“Okay, I don’t see how that’s possible-”

“I don’t care if it’s possible or not. I’m not going to risk you in that way. I’m going to protect you like I…”  he trailed off, falling on the office’s couch they had bought for possible midnight naps in between cases. “Like I couldn’t before.”

Dirk closed his eyes, already feeling the weight of his consciousness hanging from his shoulders. Dreams were usually more than just dreams, and Dirk knew that pretty well, but as for the magical part they carried, they stayed inside his head as well as the rest of the hunches, except these were heavier. It felt overwhelming.

The couch sank a little at his side. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Todd sitting there, his mouth hanging open, as if he looked for the appropriate words to say. Farah was crouched in front of him, her hand hovering near his knee in a reassurance gesture.

“Look,” Todd began, “we understand. What you are feeling is totally valid. But, this thing needs to be solved. We can’t just ignore it.”

“Yes, but-” he sighed.

“But nothing. There’s nothing you should worry about.” Todd smirked. “We’ve already traveled in time, man, remember?”

Dirk snorted. Of course he remembered that. It was one of his best cases in his professional history, after all. And the time he got his first friends. His family.

“How couldn’t I remember? It was one of the most _killy_ experiences in my whole life.”

“And electric,” Todd added.

“Definitely electric.”

Farah was looking at them with a small smile in her lips.

“And then we went to another dimension,” his friend followed. His teeth were visible now. “Where we fought against an evil queen.”

“Oh! And don’t forget about the Purple People Eater!” Dirk had an equal grin.

“How is that I always miss the fun you two have?” Farah complained. “It’s as if you wanted to keep it all to yourselves!”

He let himself laugh along with them.

“We’ve gone to some pretty rad shit. We’ll be okay. All of us,” Todd reassured, stressing the last words. “We just have to take control, am I right?”

For someone who didn’t know how to manage his own feelings, Todd could read Dirk’s so easily. It could be all the time they spent together or maybe he was too obvious, but despite how much Dirk tried to hide behind a cheerful attitude, Todd never bought any of his crap. Most of the times, Dirk was grateful for that. It was good to have a hand to help you out when you were in the middle of a struggle.

He was about to answer when something rang over his silence.

A bell.

They looked at each other with similar frowns. Who could be there that early? It wasn’t likely to be a new client.

“If it’s another missing cat case you owe me five bucks,” Todd reminded him as they rushed to the main entrance of their building.

Dirk didn’t think the person on the door was another elderly woman looking for her _Mr. Smittens_. He had the feeling it was important, and as they approached the door the known tickling he usually associated with his hunches only grew more and more inside his gut. Maybe it was an aliens case. Or a Greek God. Or a giant robot!

But it wasn’t any of that. Dirk found a deep disappointment when, after reaching the principal door, the figure of the mailman stood confused in front of them. An irritated sigh left his lips.

“Uhmmm,” the young man hesitated, “does any Dirk Gently live here? I saw the sign outside and I thought…”

“What for?” Farah questioned with a serious tone.

“Well, there’s a letter for him.”

“Oh, I’m Dirk Gently!” he announced, with renovated energy as he left his hunches aside to claim his mail.

Behind him, Farah and Todd shared a suspicious look. Dirk didn’t know too many people, and every person he got a relationship with either had his number or were in that room. After signing the documents and once they were alone, they proceeded to open the envelope. And it was right there when Dirk knew it was especial. At the very moment his fingers got in touch with the paper, he noticed how old it was. It certainly wasn’t fresh from the post office, as the yellow material almost broke at the contact. When Dirk broke the blue wax seal stamp, which only helped to increase the stipulated age, two papers fell to the floor. He picked up the smaller one. It was a postcard. In the front Dirk saw the image of a snowy landscape, full of mountains and people having an apparently amazing time skiing. He personally couldn’t enjoy the enthusiasm. The sign in wood at the bottom of the picture read ‘Welcome to Wombourne!’. In the back, a messy handwriting left a perfectly clear message for him: ‘Please! Eastern Sun! Help!”

A smile spread over his lips at the sight of such words. This was _exactly_ what he was talking about. He looked up to Farah and Todd, whose attention was focused on the larger piece of paper, from where the picture of a woman smiled back at them. When Dirk got closer to get a better view, something ringed inside his head at her sight. She was definitely younger than hem, but older than Amanda. The middle-length wavy hair reminded Dirk of a lion’s mane, and as  well as the animal, the fierceness in her look screamed danger. Even with the smile she offered, her face had ‘DANGER’ written all over it, in capital letters.

“Hmm…” Dirk pursed his lips, “I think this is proof enough.”

“Proof for what?”  Farah asked once she lifted her gaze from the picture.

“It’s kind of obvious, don’t you think?” he mocked as he folded the postcard and kept it in his pocket. “We’ve got a case!”

“But the Universe…” Todd began, soon interrupted by Dirk’s overexcited voice.

“The Universe has spoken and it clearly wants us to go to _Wormborn_.”

“Wombourne,” Farah corrected.

“What did I say?”

“So, what, are we dropping the whole dream thing now?” Todd crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well, it seems as if something more important showed up, don’t you think?

“More than the Universe directly speaking to you?” Todd frowned. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Wait, no, I think he’s right.”

Both of them turned to look at Farah.

“Are you really considering this?” Todd raised an eyebrow in her direction, but Farah wasn’t getting any of it. Dirk approved that.

“We just have to take the case. The Agency haven’t had one since, well, The Cardenas. And if you feel it too stressful, try thinking about it as umm… a relax trip,” Farah shrugged. “Like, as in a holiday.”

“You’re suggesting that we should be going to the Bahamas to avoid the Universe’s will?” Todd seemed more and more exasperated with every second.

“Well, clearly the picture in the postcard is not the Bahamas, Todd.”

Dirk slapped his head with the small paper, getting an annoyed look in return.

“C’mon, what else do we have to lose?” Farah tried to convince him.

Dirk waited expectantly for his answer. Farah was raising her eyebrows. Todd closed his eyes and gave a deep sigh.

“Fine,” he said raising his hands in self-defense. “But at least pick a good motel this time.”

 

* * *

 

The sound of the keyboard was starting to break his mind. The green codes on the black screen before him were probably already tattooed in his eyelids. It wasn’t the first time Ken had pulled an all-nighter trying to finally crack the code behind the possible other universes that hid under pocket dimensions. He ran a hand through his face, trying to take all the tiredness from his mind with one move.

After the sixth “CODE_ERROR” appeared in the computer, he finally gave up, clenching his fists in the attempt to avoid throwing the monitor away in an anger impulse. Ken inhaled deeply and let the air go slowly through his mouth, as his head ended resting on his right hand. This situation was driving him crazy, all the expectations Wilson had left on his shoulders weighting like two tons on his back.

The reality was, things had gone quite well for Ken Adams. After cleaning all the disaster the knights had left in the facility, the director of Blackwing named him the new Supervisor, filling up the place Friedkin left after his sudden, well, death. He convinced her that the new orientation of the program in the discovery of new worlds that blend with ours would be the best idea, since the initial project about holding the Universe’s creations hadn’t displayed in the best way under any mandatory. But, after that, it all got out of his hands. The investigations were leading nowhere, the scientists haven’t come up with a good result since the first days of analysis to the new metals, and the time was running out since Wilson started to dislike his made up excuses.

Long story short, he was fucked up.

The only hope he had left was his informatics abilities, but evidently, even that wasn’t enough to help him get his career back in track. He was starting to consider the chance to run away to Alaska to avoid the Director’s accusatory look when someone knocked on his door.

“Um, Supervisor Adams?” The head of the Lieutenant came into view shyly from the entry. His nervous eyes darted around the room, proving he lack of recent movement by its occupant. “Your presence is required.”

“Haven’t I specifically asked you to say I couldn’t be bothered?” he didn’t even look at him.

“Well, yes, in fact, you did, which is exactly what I’ve done, but, this is different,” he took some air before continuing. “It’s not someone from the staff who calls you.”

“Who then?”

“A Project, Sir,” the Lieutenant gulped. “Project Marzanna.”

Ken froze immediately at the name. He turned slowly, frowning at the fidgeting man in the door. He took his time to let the words out, intending to phrase each of them in the most careful way.

“What do you mean,” he stood up as the sentence went on, “when you say project Marzanna requires me?”

“Oh, well, she had, um… she may have expressed her desire to talk, to you, about a pretty urgent matter,” the dark hair at the top of his head wobbled with the several nods he gave him.

As soon as he finished Ken got to the door, without forgetting his access card, and walked right into the projects area. The first time he saw Marzanna after they part their ways was when she appeared, out of nowhere and covered in blood, in the researchers room where Ken had been helping. She just popped up in there, scaring the shit out of one of their researchers. She had smiled at him and attempted to approach him. But Ken knew better. After reading the files, where he fully understood what people like her were, he couldn’t keep playing around with his supposed friend. He talked with her until she accepted to be part of the program in the position she deserved: as another project. She even had communicated him the Universe desires of her to kill him, which only gave him more excuses to kept her locked up.

Now, as the so-satisfactory click gave him permission, he rushed through her room’s doors until Marzanna was just in front of him. She was sat in her comfortable position, looking at him from below and in complete silence, as if she hadn’t just asked for his presence as an urgent need.

“Hey Ken,” she greeted, barely lifting her head. “I finally can see you ‘round here.”

“Project Marzanna,” he answered, taking the seat in front of her with extreme professionalism. She didn’t seem to have liked that, as her eyebrows drew together. “You called, I’m here. What’s the so-desperate matter you need to discuss?”

Ken always tried to maintain a somewhat cold relationship with all the subjects. If there was something both Riggins and Friedkin had messed it up was in the way they approached them, being so close to the projects have made them vulnerable to them, so he wasn’t going to make the same mistake.

Marzanna pinched the skin around her nails as she began to talk, “Well, I remember you told me the first day here I should tell you if something happened, y’know, out there.”

“Is that why you called me?” Ken felt his shoulders fell in disappointment. “The Universe wants you to kill someone?”

“Well, it still hasn’t stopped screaming about you. But no,” she shook her head, “it’s not about that. It talked to me.”

His mouth went dry at that moment, as he leaned on the table, not really caring about how easily Marzanna could end him right there if she wanted.

“You must be more specific,” he whispered. The conversation was getting somewhere, he could feel it. Maybe, right where he needed it to be. “What did the Universe told you?”

“I think,” she stared at the ground before lifting her gaze up again, “it was a message for you. It didn’t feel like something aimed at me.”

“Right, Bart,” he sighed while closing his eyes. The formalism could go to hell now. “And what did it say?”

“It said ‘I’m coming for you’,” she explained, her eyes full of questions. “What does that mean, Ken? Why is the Universe trying to get to you?”

He didn’t know. He was speechless, but not because of the threatening words. The Cosmos, the huge force that dictated their destinies and entire lives, communicated straightaway with one of their subjects. That… that was something. They had a direct line with the Universe, and damned him if he wasn’t going to take advantage on that.

“Look, Bart, I need you to listen carefully to what I’m going to say, okay?” She nodded. “Right, this is what’s going to happen. Forget about the message. It isn’t important. But, I’m going to talk to one of the important guys over there to take you to a better room so we can talk about this,” he moved his hands between them, “in a much better way. What do you think?”

Marzanna kept staring at him, with a frown in her face. For a moment Ken feared she was going to decline the offer, but he was soon greeted with a nod. He let out a sight of dissimulated relief and stood up while fixing his suit to go back to his computer, where he could easily start investigating about the matter. But when he was at the door, he was stopped by Bart’s voice.

“But why do you think it said that?”

“I don’t know,” he licked his lips. “What do you think?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know Ken… it didn’t sound nice while it said so. I think,” her look was dead serious, “the Universe has made lots of mistakes. And now it wants to correct them all.”

With his lips pursed, Ken passed his access card and rushed to his office. He didn’t have time for Universe bullshit. Still in her place, Bart frowned deeper as the lights started to turn off one by one. The feeling she got bolting inside her chest wasn’t nice at all. And she knew sooner or later, it was going to explode.

 

* * *

 

 Howls, Screams, Chaos. Amanda could feel all of that while her eyes were closed. Waves of pain flowing from her brain to her hands, where it morphed into a blue light radiating from the wooden wand. Her eyes behind the eyelids looking for a specific presence in the world. But her searching got interrupted when the same force she was using made her go back to the real world. Like a shock of electricity―and she knew how those felt―her body retreated a few steps and the wand fell to the ground. The Rowdies stopped their particular cheering, Beast even put a sad expression on her face.

“Nothing, it gets harder every time.” She hit the ground in anger.

After waking up to unusual movement, Amanda heard the boys speak about a Universe threat. The fabric of reality was getting every time closer to a rupture, and she was nowhere near her objective.

She picked up the wand from the floor, looking at it with a grimace of disgust. Since their comeback from Wendimoor, her search for holistic people wasn’t going how she expected. Although she had magic in her side, it wasn’t really helpful to find the Universe’s tools. The wand only worked as a way to express her powers, just as the pool in the magical land, giving her visions that fed of her pain. Without a proper control, it was kind of useless. The images in her brain after every try weren’t clear at all, just blue fog clouding her inner sight. Amanda wanted to break something.

Beast approached her and put a hand on her hair.

“Mandah hasa sad?” she pouted.

Amanda sighed. The Rowdies always got worried for her after her unsuccessful tries. It was true that maybe she had too many expectations, but not getting results was starting to make her hate the Universe a little more than she did before.

“Have you seen anything in your visions Drummer?”

Vogel’s eyes were wide as dishes. With all the time they’ve spent trying to find the rest of the boys the last year, he self-proclaimed himself the guardian of Amanda’s visions. He could understand them a lot better than the others. Amanda gave him a little shake with her head.

“I can’t get closer to them. It feels like there’s some kind of… barrier, impeding me to get there.”

“We could break the barrier if you want.” Gripps raised his bat. Cross took some bricks in his hands and Beast jumped with them.

Amanda smiled at the offer.

“Is there a way we could help with that?” Martin crossed his arms over his chest.

“Maybe… I could use your power to go a little deeper.”

When the Wendimoor methods didn’t help her, the Rowdies abilities were the only thing Amanda could rely on. Like every other time, they gathered around her, waiting for her order to feed. What was different, though was that this time she was holding the wand as well. After a deep breath, she nodded. Her shrieks could be heard as the blue light emanated from her body.

_White walls, lights flickering. A hand taking the bars of a cell. Several metal doors closing one after the other. A flash of light brown hair. A man coming on fire, screaming in agony. Crying. More screams, specifically from a girl. A particular sign, with the name of a city in it. A rock._

Amanda gasped and fell to her knees. Her friends approached her to seek the damage. She was staring at her hands, with the wand on the floor. And laughing. Martin tried to hold Beast from going to her. Gripps and Cross exchanged a concerned look between them. Was she possibly going nuts?

Vogel failed to talk two times before asking “Er, boss… is everything okay? Have you seen something in your little brain?”

Amanda sighed, relieved.

“Yes, Vogel,” she beamed. Her words were almost a whisper. “I know where to go.”

The guys cheered in excitement. Martin offered her a hand to get up, and she took it more than happy. Finally, a lead to follow. Amanda went to the van and opened the doors.

“Get in there, guys. We’ve got to find some psychics out there.”

The guys roared as they followed her orders, Vogel even bumped her fist with hers in his way.

They were back to the game.

 

* * *

 

  _Nothing._

 _Complete emptiness surrounded him. It’s been quite a while since he actually_ felt _something. When the void swallowed him, his spiritual form had detached from his body, sending him to the place where the real magic happened. All the secrets in the long Cosmos existence were revealed to him._

_He’d felt… powerful._

_But now, the Universe was in danger. It was suffering. It screamed to the void, asking for help, pleading for someone who could save it. It destroyed him to see how even the strongest threads were fighting to stay together._

_The reality was falling apart._

_He could see the threat in the real world. Moving, conspiring against existence without being aware of it. And he was the only one who noticed. It was reasonable, then, that he was the only one who could end it._

_So he screamed. He screamed so loud that everyone capable of hearing him would catch his words. He was going for them. Every. Single. One._

_This time, he was going to be the hero._

* * *

 

 Behind the window, in the rocky landscape they were traversing, Todd began to make out some glimpses of snow intruding into the earth. A little smile found its way to his lips. Todd always preferred the cold wintery weather to the sunny and hot days. He liked activities that involved snow, hot drinks, or soft blankets on his shoulders as he watched a TV show on his sofa. So when the postcard’s place turned out to be a small town in the middle of the mountains, he couldn’t hide his happiness.

He tried to turn up the music―the songs on the radio weren’t that bad today―but Farah took his hand before he could even touch the knob and pointed with her head to the backseat. There, Dirk was lying asleep with his head against the window. His chest was peacefully going up and down, and Todd could only think of how much the detective deserved some time of nightmares-deprived sleep.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he looked at her, her eyes back to the road.

“You always do.”

She smiled, but it didn’t last so long.

“I am worried about him too. Yesterday…he didn’t seem like him.”

“I know… if you’d just heard him, Farah,” he shook his head, remembering how Dirk had screamed, waking him up and scaring him in the process.

Yelling his name.

He gave his best friend another look. His face was relaxed, and his body was curled up against the door. It was like seeing a big puppy.

“Do you think your plan is going to work?”

“Well, I hope so? Dirk has this ability to always find trouble. And you know it’ll be better if we look for it instead of run from it. At least in this way, we know what is coming.”

After convincing him of the idea, Farah explained to him the real reason behind her quick acceptance of the matter. In theory, Farah was just as convinced as him that the threat Dirk got was indeed worthy to keep in mind. They also knew that Dirk wasn’t going to jump into it with that ease. But every time they avoided the reality of the situation, the team ended up being dragged into it without skipping a beat, their last case was the perfect proof. When things took them by surprise, they didn’t develop in the best way. And people got hurt. Dirk hated when people got hurt. So this time, they wanted to do exactly the opposite: go right to the danger. They decided to let Dirk’s _holisticness_ guide them from their first point: Wombourne, an unknown place for the three of them.

Todd didn’t know what to expect.

“Do we know what is coming though?”

“No, but… we are gonna find out soon.”

The town in question was much better than he imagined. In a village style that left him quite impressed, the streets were all covered in wood. From the signs with the street’s names to those announcing the centre shops, all of them were made from tree trunks. The pavement was covered with a thick layer of snow that reminded Todd of family trips back in his home-town. The people seemed to enjoy the cold, as it didn’t stop them from going out. He saw couples walking down the streets, hand in hand with the other; groups of friends laughing with beers in their hands; children with their parents playing in a square. All under the white light of what he felt as a Christmas atmosphere.

Dirk, who had awoken a few hours ago, was looking through the window with wide eyes, trying to get a view of everything in the outside. Todd had to admit that Wombourne gave him a peace sensation Seattle didn’t offer, and as soon as he gave a look at Farah, he saw it reflected in her eyes too.

The motel where they were staying in the outskirts of the town wasn’t so big. It had the same vibe of an enchanted wood as the rest of the village. Being in the middle of the trees, it raised with its walls made out of logs with a warm image. When Farah and him were inside, after picking their luggage, they entered to the hall, and found a red tapestry covering the walls, which would've given him the sensation of royalty if it didn't have holes with humidity stains in it. In the middle, there were tables and chairs made of dark wood, old enough to make him wonder if they would break in case someone sat in them. Some libraries completed the look, made of the same wood as the other furniture, filled with books that didn't give the image of being new. In fact, they seemed to have never been opened, with the only purpose of decoration.

Well, to be fair, it was an excellent start.

An old woman went to receive them, walking with a slight limp and open arms. Her brown eyes, with the same kind shine as her grin that reminded him of her grandmother, were framed by a short grey hair that in other times could’ve been of a light blonde shade. Her clothes, Todd noticed, tried to recreate the same style intended for the room, but considering the actual hall’s state, she seemed to outstand a bit too much. It reminded him of someone who stood up from his background as well. But, it matched her attitude perfectly, with too much energy for someone her age.

“Welcome, welcome! How was the trip?”

“It was more than great, Mrs. Denver,” Farah answered with the best smile she could offer.

“Did you enjoy the view?” the woman asked as she directed them to the reception desk. “I heard it’s been full of snow.”

“It was really pretty,” he resumed the chat, doing the small talk his friend surely didn’t want to do.

There was too much silence, though. A very talkative voice was missing there.

“I’m glad you liked it,” she smiled again while checking the computer. “So, it was two rooms right?”

Todd couldn’t stop looking at the door. Where did Dirk go?

“Uhm, there must be a mistake.” A frown took place in Farah’s face. “I’m pretty sure we said three rooms.

“Hmm, yeah, so it says the machine.” Mrs. Denver nodded as her fingers typed something else in the computer. “You’ll have to excuse me, Dona is the one who manages this stuff. Besides, I thought you two would’ve wanted a room for yourselves so, my mistake!”

“Wait, what?” Todd turned back at lightning speed, already feeling his cheeks warm up.

Farah stuttered, asking for an explanation, to which the woman only laughed.

“I’m sorry, sweethearts. You’re just not the first couple that comes to this place and I thought…”

“Uh, no, friends, we’re just…”

“Great friends. Amazing, in fact.”

Did they really give that vibe? Todd hoped it was only in the lady’s mind. Things with Farah had been… odd, since Wendimoor. He definitely had had a small crush—really small, not creepy at all as Amanda likes to say—with her, one that lasted longer than necessary, he had to admit. But while they were in the run, looking for Dirk under every rock they could find, they gave each other a chance.

As Farah told them in the Sound of Nothing, that night they kissed she had discovered a lot about her personality. First of all, that she was definitely one of the freaks. Second, that she didn’t like boys that much.

As bad as it was being the sexual awakening of someone, Todd had ended up accepting it, and they were in a very stable friendship at the moment with no surprises. But any time the subject was brought up (mostly by Dirk) both looked for an excuse to avoid the topic.

“Well, but you looked too cute I may say.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Farah was clearly struggling through that sentence, “But we’re definitely not a thing.”

“Yes, not together.”

He was going to keep going with his excuse when a sudden noise called his attention. On the door, Dirk appeared talking something about the snow piled outside, holding his luggage in one hand and a fluffy ball of white fur in the other.

Todd shook his head and threw him a confused look.

“Dirk,” he interrupted him, “how the hell did you get a rabbit?”

“Oh, this?” he pointed at the animal in his hand. “Pfft, it’s obviously Mona, Todd. Keep track of your friends.”

“That’s Mona?” Farah inquired. Her eyebrows were almost touching now.

 “It’s adorable, isn’t it?” He suddenly noticed Mrs. Denver's presence. He passed the rabbit to Todd, who gave him a really serious―or at least he tried to make it seem like he was being serious―annoyed look, as the detective reached a hand in her direction, “Hi, I’m Dirk Gently.”

She had a lopsided smile, staring from Dirk to Todd and the little animal in his arms. That's it, he thought. The start of their trip was already weird. But the elder lady didn't seem so surprised about them, as she shook Dirk's hand with a curious look in her eyes.

“I’m Mrs. Denver, the owner of the motel.”

“Oh, you own this lovely place? Let me tell you, it looks wonderful surrounded by the snow, you should make it a whole-year thing,” he nodded decided.

“Dirk, that’s physically impossible, it would melt in summer,” Farah reminded him.

“Then she could use a non-melting snow,” he said matter-of-factly.

Todd opened his mouth to say how such thing didn’t exist or to ask what kind of snow they had on England, but he was interrupted by Mrs. Denver laugh.

“All of you are really funny!” she exclaimed trying to calm her breathing, “Come here, I’ll show you your rooms.”

Mrs. Denver headed the way, and Dirk followed her right behind after giving him two thumbs up. Todd turned to Farah, who shrugged with an amused smile.

“Don’t look at me, you’re his best friend.”

Todd rolled his eyes and followed the detective.

Apparently, the rest of the motel was in the same conditions as the hall, helped by the poor lightening in the hallway that led to the bedrooms. All the doors were of the same light brown wood, differentiated by the furniture in all the residence. Luckily they had little signs to identify one from the other, because Todd thought he would get lost without them. But Dirk seemed to have another idea. As they passed through another set of rooms, he stopped in front of a particular door. They wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for his sudden question.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your fantastic story, Mrs. Denver but… did something happen to this room?”

To be fair with him, there could be some differences. Although it seemed to be an identical copy of all the others, this door seemed to have a lot more use than the ones beside it. There were little scratches in the wood, maybe because of constant objects used to open it when the occupant's hands were full. Todd felt Farah’s eyes in the back of his head, burning with the same intrigue than his.

“That room…”

She had trailed off, her eyes clouding with sadness in a way Todd had found really suspicious. But before she could finish her sentence, a young woman appeared from the left corridor. She was way younger than Mrs. Denver, and her long light brown hair moved softly in her back. Her eyes, though, weren’t as kind as the lady’s. They were digging in them like daggers.

“You shouldn’t ask questions you don’t have to know the answer for.” Her voice was as hard as her look. “Your rooms are the last three of this row.”

Then she took Mrs. Denver by her arms, protectively, as she ran away from their sight. In her infuriated walk out she hit Dirk in the shoulder, who had tried to get out of her way immediately.

God, and he thought the people in Seattle were rude.

“Well,” he sighed, “what a great way to start our holidays.”

The inside of their rooms wasn’t anything extraordinary either. A single bed, a small wardrobe, and a little TV. The walls were painted in the same red colour as the ones they walked before. Todd could feel the cold air sneak through his clothes, which made him frown thoughtfully at the thin green covers on the bed. He let out a sigh. Exactly like a case should feel.

Once they settled down and gathered in Farah’s room, he felt someone had to ask the question. Dirk was sitting in Farah’s bed, looking at the list of channels available in the TV. They looked at each other before Todd cleared his throat. That attracted Dirk’s attention.

“Hey, so, what do you think about the place?” Todd grabbed a chair and had a seat with its back facing the bed Dirk was sitting on.

“Oh, well, I found the place really endearing,” he answered with his usual smile.

“Yeah, I thought the same. But didn’t you, I don’t know, get anything suspicious?” Todd sat closer, waiting for his response.

Dirk seemed to think about it before shaking his head.

“Not really, it’s pretty ordinary if you ask me,” he shrugged nonchalantly.

Lie.

Todd closed his eyes, and he could hear Farah’s sigh in the background.

“Is everything okay?”

Todd opened his eyes again, catching the flicker of fear in Dirk’s eyes. He was scared.

“Dirk, just so we are clear here, if you notice anything, you will tell us. Right?”

“Well, of course.” Dirk focused again on the small magazine in his hands. “What makes you wonder that Todd? What kind of detective that would make me if I didn’t share clues with my team?”

“You could ask the door number 231 about that,” Farah crossed her arms, an accusatory tone impregnating her voice.

Dirk opened her mouth several times trying to find an excuse, resulting in a lot of babbling. He finally gave up, blowing air through his nose in frustration. Todd didn’t want to make him go through this situation, and he almost regretted it if it wasn’t for the possible investigation ahead of them.

“Whatever you saw in that hallway, was nothing. It was just a hunch,” he gaped and hurried to say “Not a Universe hunch though. More like a… heart-related hunch.”

“You can’t have a heart-related hunch.” Todd quirked an eyebrow.

“A gut-related then?” he tried with an innocent face.

Farah rolled her eyes and went to sit beside Dirk.

“Are you sure nothing _important_ is happening here?

“Of course, Farah, if something mysterious was about to happen in that pretty interesting door you would be the very first persons to know about it.”

“And what exactly makes it interesting for you?” Todd asked.

“It…” Dirk trailed off, looking for an excuse, “it had a very, particular colour.”

“It was just the same as the others,” Farah frowned and shook her head. “C’mon Dirk. Why don’t you just tell the truth?”

The detective took his time looking at the white rabbit in the floor. He feared Dirk was going to close himself again, letting them out of the situation. He left the chair in its place and walked to his other side. Todd put a hand in Dirk’s shoulder, smiling a little at him to offer some comfort. Dirk returned it shifting his gaze to his own hands.

“We know, you don’t like this situation. But how many times have you tried to run from this and we got stuck in the middle of the danger?”

“I get what you’re saying,” he sounded tired, the kind of tiredness that came right from the inside. Todd suddenly got the urge to hug him. “I’m not really sure, actually. I think there’s something behind that door that is utterly relevant for us, but I’m not entirely certain about what could it be.” He stood up immediately, “Which doesn’t mean it is directly related to the thing I don’t wanna talk about!”

“Of course not,” he conceded. He didn’t really believe it, but his words seemed to relax Dirk’s shoulders so he went on with them. “It may be related to the other case, the reason why we’re here.”

He looked at Farah, who seemed to understand the message behind his words.

“Yeah, we-we might… investigate that.” Farah’s several nods didn’t help to sell her story, but either Dirk didn’t notice or he didn’t really care.

“Well, in that case-” he sat upright at lightning speed with a radiant smile, “-I think we can go to walk through the village. I saw it while we were driving here, and let me tell you, _there_ is where the action will take place.”

“What exactly are you talking about now?” Todd gave up in trying to find an answer to his question the moment he caught the amused smile on Dirk’s face.

“I’ve got no idea.”

This was undoubtedly going to be another hell of a ride.


	2. II. The cooler version of the Powerpuff Girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Chapter two here, finally. I managed to write this while I was on a holiday trip, so let's cheer for that, and for the amazing @TheMissingMask for helping me through this correcting my multiple mistakes and English problems over the work.

His eyes narrowed at the screen. This time the black interface for decoding was replaced by the live security footage of Marzanna’s new cell. Anyone stepping into the room with him would think the image was frozen. The only thing that the monitor displayed was the woman sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor, gazing at the soles of her shoes. But Ken knew this behaviour was normal for her. He extended his arm to grab the communicator without taking his eyes off of her.

“How’s that going Bart?”   


Marzanna looked up, directly into the camera, and shrugged,  “I mean, it is more pretty than my last dorm.”   


“I’m glad to hear so,” he rolled his eyes, “And… what about the Universe?”

“Nothing. I’ve told you, Ken,” she pleaded with sad eyes, “It doesn’t work that way.”

“But it has to,” he whispered thoughtfully once his finger left the speaker button.

Ken absently rubbed his chin with his index finger, trying to come up with a way to improve this situation. The moment he told Wilson about the new trajectory of the Program in regard to Project Marzanna, her eyes had lit up. It didn’t escape to him how the corners of her mouth quirked up while she congratulated him. And the sharp look didn’t scare him at all, of course. But, he would be lying if he didn’t at least admit how anxious it made him feel about it. 

The Supervisor had left the constantly frightened Lieutenant in charge of the investigation field while he immersed himself entirely in the new mission. But that also meant he was fully responsible for everything that happened with it. Or didn’t happen, more precisely. 

He stood up, leaving Marzanna alone in her room, and started to pace around the office. There had to be some way to make her perceptive abilities more receptive. Of course, there wasn’t any science in how the projects communicated with the Universe. According to the files, it was a thing that sort of just happened. And obviously, that wasn’t enough for him. He had dug into the deepest records of Blackwing, back to when it started with their first tests, but no one discovered anything that could widen his opportunities.

Ken shook his head, pushing the chair he had previously been sitting on. He only had one resource left. Speaking with the man that knew these abominations up close.   
The Supervisor took back the communicator, this time connecting it to the facility speakers, and asked in a clear voice,

“Could Mr. Priest report to my office? There are a few subjects I’d like to discuss right now.”   


* * *

 

There are a few things that work to soothe Todd’s nerves on a daily basis. One of them was his obligatory first mug of coffee in the morning. It was like the initial fuel that allowed him to start the day with only minor grumpiness. Another thing was music, so close to his core that it worked as an almost natural healer for any distressing situation. Amanda’s hugs were also essential. Since his childhood, the close bond he shared with her meant that the simple gesture acted as a restart button for his temperament. And, more recently, quiet nights in the Agency were included, where everything stopped for a moment and Farah, Dirk, and him enjoyed a rare moment of peace. All of these worked as a medicine for Todd. But now he had to add Wombourne to the list. The simple life of the town was more than relaxing. And he had to admit, it granted some beauty to it too. The lights that illuminated the inside of the shops gleamed in the snow outside with an almost unique shine. The air, as cold as it was, felt pure to breath, the way it should be in a quiet mountain town. The view inevitably made Todd recall the many family trips he constantly claimed to hate, but actually longed for every time the winter holidays approached. Of course Amanda didn’t know that, or she wouldn’t let him out of this one.

And the people only augmented the image. The village lifestyle was 100% slower than in Seattle. As they walked down the street, with at least three layers of clothes on, Todd found the inhabitants bore a general temperament even more relaxed than theirs, and they were on holiday. Todd couldn’t help but envy the lifestyle as he observed men going to work without worrying about catching a taxi or a bus. Or the women talking so chirpily in the cafés, without having to glance back at the clock marking 3 pm on the wall. Or the couples walking hand-in-hand in the square, leaning on each other as if they didn’t have to be somewhere else. His hand felt too cold suddenly.

“So,” Dirk claimed their attention, “I know this is my first time enjoying such a beautiful season in the right way, but as you had many less winters without CIA experiments and hateful hunches than me, I think it’s my right to ask. What exactly are the things that normal people do in this weather?”

“Normal people as in adults? Not much really.” Todd tried to push his hands further into his pockets, as if magically more room would appear there, “But kids? They have loads of fun with this, man. Amanda and I used to go to our street to throw ourselves from the snow knolls that gathered in the sidewalk.”

The memory of multiple hits against trees came to his mind. They have had several good jump scares with those. And right after that, the snowball wars. Those were pretty fun too, even that time Amanda had broken one of his teeth when her attack came with an accidental additional load.

“We would wait for the days when the snow reached our knees, so school would be cancelled and we could have all the fun we wanted,” He smiled.

They got to the square and because of Dirk’s impulse—who insisted they were getting closer to ‘something’—they decided to walk around it.

“My snow days weren't as fun as yours then,” Farah acknowledged, her words being muffled by the violet scarf around her neck, “Usually days like this meant heavier training. My dad used to say that any powerful fighter could battle even in the worst conditions, so he used it to train us.” She frowned at that memory, and Todd could totally feel that. From what she had told them, her family wasn't exactly deserving of the Best Family of the Year award. But then her face relaxed and she got a delighted look, “But when days were like this, my brothers and I  would convince him to stay home and watch cartoons all day long.”

“Please tell me you also had little cocoa mugs,” Todd mocked her. “Because that would be the cutest thing ever.”

“Shut up, Brotzman,” she rolled her eyes. “Did you do anything like that Dirk? Before Blackwing, I mean.”

Dirk, who had been beaming at them cheerfully, stopped his tracks for a second before resuming the walk, replacing the gleaming of his expression with a pensive frown.

“I didn’t have much in the way of a proper childhood, actually. Since I didn't really obey my parents courtesy of all the Universe shit, they kept me inside of the house for the most part. To avoid getting hurt, I suppose.”

Todd looked at him out of the corner of his eye, trying to keep up with his story but not putting him in the spotlight. Farah and him had learned before that moments where the detective spoke about his pre-Blackwing life were scarce, so they had to treat it as another normal subject for him to go on freely. Now, Dirk was focused on the little white fog that came out of his nose with every exhalation.

“When they handed me over to Riggins very little changed in that regard. I couldn't really see anything of the outside world, except in videos or movies in the tests. And I  _ really _ tried to not pay attention to those. Emphasis in tried,” he chuckled. “I guess after leaving Blackwing the few interactions with snow in England could count, but I didn't really enjoy it, every time escaping to do something else, you know…”

They nodded silently. In moments like that, Todd never knew what to say. In part because he had never experienced being captured by the CIA, but also because he knew that anything that could get out of his mouth would be filled with rage. The mere mention of Blackwing made his blood boil. After hearing from Dirk what happened in those two months he was missing a year ago, they were left stunned. And his response,  _ ‘But I was used to it, it wasn’t any different from when I was a child’ _ , only made it worse.

That day, Todd promised himself he would punch a Blackwing employee if he ever saw one.

Dirk closed his eyes and shook his head, “I killed the mood, didn’t I?”

“Of course not, man, it’s alright,” Todd assured him. Dirk looked up from the point on his shoes he’d been fixing his gaze on, only for it to be attracted by something else Todd didn't get to see. 

“I mean, Blackwing is shit, but it was real, you know? You can't act as if it hadn't… and you stopped listening,” He sighed, as the Brit broke the path to walk up to a tree near the swings.

On its trunk, a paper with the face of many people was shown with question marks at their sides. The pictures varied from men to women, all aged between twenty and forty. On top of them, the message  _ ‘Have you seen me?’  _ was written in red capital letters.

“This is it,” Dirk whispered. “I knew there was something here!”

Todd trotted until he was next to him, Farah following him behind. When his eyes landed on the flyer, he lifted an annoyed eyebrow at Dirk.

“Wait, is that what we’ve been walking the whole morning for?” 

“But what is it exactly?” Dirk prompted, stretching an ungloved pale hand to take it out.

“It‘s a Missing Persons report. Look,” Farah pointed to the data below the pictures, “There are names, numbers, directions. Those should be to contact their relatives in case you’ve seen one of them around.”

“You see? Farah is being far more helpful than you at the moment, Todd,” Dirk lifted an eyebrow quizzically at him, to which Todd only answered by rolling his eyes. Again.

“I said it because I’ve already seen those pictures.”

Both of them turned to look at him, suddenly interested in what he was saying. 

“Before we headed out I was reading the newspaper. The whole front page was covered with that same poster, it just… didn’t look like something worth mentioning.”

Farah raised her eyebrows, “Next time, if you see that people have been disappearing in the town that holds a mystery we are solving, say something about it.”

“But do you understand what this means?” Dirk shook the paper in their faces. “This is our next big case, I already feel it! We are on the right path.”

He had this crazy look in his eyes that reminded Todd of their first case together. That could mean either he was back in the game, which was great, or that they were going to face yet more dangerous and tricky times, which was rather debatable.

“Besides, there’s something else,” he pressed the paper into Todd’s chest, “Obviously this is nothing like a cat case. So now  _ you _ owe me five dollars.”

Todd sighed heavily while taking out his wallet, and he totally saw Farah’s failed attempt to not laugh at him. As he handed Dirk the bill, she took out her phone from her pocket. 

“So, we have directions and phone numbers. Let’s divide into two teams and start interrogating the people.” Farah tapped some words into her phone and right after she finished they both got the message with the addresses in it. “Let’s figure out what’s going on in this town.”    


* * *

 

The people ran from the streets as they heard the engine from the terrifying van roar. Amanda smiled as she saw them flee, scared of Martin’s driving abilities. The disaster vibes that emanated from the vehicle were enough to clear the roads for them, as even the most distracted pedestrian ran to the safety of the sidewalks as soon as the Rowdies appeared.

In their way down to the city of her visions, they had to go through Albuquerque to save time, and that meant scaring people for seeming serial killers. The reality couldn’t be further than that. Even if Martin hated to obey such things as streetlights and road signs, he always respected the limits of the street. And despite the Rowdies’ preferences for breaking stuff, they never harmed anyone who wasn’t a thoroughly deserving prick.   
In the front of the van, loud punk music was blasting from the speakers, courtesy of Amanda’s election. She was chewing on some gummy bears as the wind entering through the rolled down window pushed her hair back. To her left, Martin finished his can of a cheap soda from the last gas station they had assaulted—and probably broke—while driving with his other hand. In the back, over the floor made of several bundles of fast food and different types of candies, Vogel and Beast were wrestling like little, violent and extremely playful puppies. Gripps’ and Cross’ chants were heard in the background. The whole vehicle was swung by the force with which they threw each other, and the mix of laughs, yells and victory screams were creating music of their own. Just pure and frenetic Rowdy fun.

Amanda loved it.

After she woke up to the sound of their moves in their sleep, and hearing later the threat that haunted their dreams, it was all they needed. But that also meant they had to focus harder. She turned the music down to call their attention. All heads turned to her, ready to listen to her words. 

“Guys, you know how important this is, right?”

“Sure boss!” Vogel nodded with his typical enthusiasm “Saving the world, not a game anymore.”

“Exactly, we need to focus.” She tossed the bag of gummies aside, “So no more stops unless it’s an emergency.”

“So… no more Diet Coke?” Gripps asked with a frown.

Amanda gaped, not sure how to answer. She never understood Gripps love for that light drink.

“Uhmm…” she hesitated, “I guess we can get some in the next emergency.”

“And what about breaking into a record store?” Cross pointed out. “That counts as an emergency, right Drummer?”

Okay, maybe they needed some more CD’s, the music was already getting repetitive. But no matter how much she wanted to renovate their library, their mission was more important. 

“Right now we have to focus on this.” Amanda gave him an apologetic look from the rear-view mirror. “I swear when it’s over we’ll break into as many stores as you want. But now guys, I need all your attention. Is it okay?”

They all agreed in a chorus of whistles and yelling, but Amanda noticed a strange movement coming from Beast. She was sitting upright, looking everywhere and sniffing into the air. She resembled the image of a dog, looking for another animal to catch.

“Beast, is everything okay?” Amanda turned around in her seat. Now she was walking to the back door of the van, smelling the floor like following a track.

“Bibbit,” she answered.

“Um, Dirk’s not here,” she frowned. “Do you, like, want to call him or something?”

Beast shook her head.

“Other Bibbit.”

And with those words, she opened the doors of the moving vehicle and jumped right out into the street, almost being hit by the car behind them. Amanda saw her run through the mass of people that wandered the streets of Albuquerque.

“Shit,” she hit the seat. “Pick your weapons guys, we have to get her back.”

Martin made a U-turn, earning a few honks from the other drivers, and parked in between two trash cans. They all jumped out of the van and followed the track of civilian screams in the wake of the Wendimoor girl. It wasn’t hard to run down the streets as the view of the big guys with golf sticks, a crossbow and bats accompanied by Amanda’s death stares generally prompted people to get out of their way. But that didn’t mean it was easy to keep up with Beast’s speed. The girl ran like a marathon athlete and she never seemed to get tired of it. Multiple times they lost her trail, but thanks to Cross’ great sense of direction they soon found their way back to her.   
When they finally found her, she was jumping in front of an alleyway. Beast saw them coming and started pointing inside of it, repeating Dirk’s nickname over and over again.

“Bibbit, Bibbit, Bibbit!”

“What?” Amanda frowned, confused, “No, Dirk and the guys are in…”

But she stopped after hearing the whimpers coming from her right. In between the two buildings, a fight was going on with such brutality that reminded her of the first time she met the Rowdies. Four boys were getting hit by a group of girls, who apparently had the situation completely under control. Three of them were almost her age, if not a little younger. But the other one couldn’t be more than sixteen. The four men had all a similar appearance, ragged clothes, awfully equal haircuts and the same pleading voices. Well, they were probably pleading because they were being hit, but they all sounded the same. The only thing that differed them was that one of them had a cut on his eyebrow, the other was covered in piercings, another had a star tattoo on his temple and the last one had a horrible earring in his ear. 

The teen was kicking Piercing’s stomach repeatedly against a wall, with such an anger that it almost scared her. Almost. Behind her, Tattoos had his left arm being held behind his back by the tallest girl, who had burning red hair tied in a ponytail. She even dislocated his arm with the strength she applied to it. Eyebrow was pinned against the wall by the shortest girl. She shared an European look with Martin, which was really odd in the States. But despite her height, she apparently handled the guy pretty well, as she punched his face with an admirable ease. And the third girl, with short light brown hair, was more than fine kneeing Earring in his junk, as he was lifted from the ground with his feet hanging there like dead weight.

“Okay, okay! We’ll go!” Piercing yelled. “We swear we’ll go, we’re not coming back!”

The youngest girl turned to look at the others, as if looking for their permission.

“As you want, sweetheart,” the brunette said. She had a Latin accent.

She frowned at the guy, and after several seconds, she lifted the foot from his body. Almost at the same time, the others let their own guys go with their friend, who had run past Amanda as if their lives depended of it. And after seeing them fight, she actually agreed.

They didn’t seem to notice them though. Congratulating the kid, they high-fived her and one of them even ruffled her hair. She fixed her clothes, and only now Amanda realized they were untidy, and went to pick her bag that had been thrown to the side. And when she approached them, she saw the red mark of a hand in her cheek and the trail of dry tears. She ran past them, as if avoiding any more problems. Only then the three girls were aware of their presence. They looked suspiciously at them, positioning in fight-mode just in case it was needed. But Amanda knew it wasn’t necessary.

“Um, hey,” she greeted, trying to sound cool. All she got were weird looks. “Ah, great fight, girls. Impressive moves.”

“What do you want here?” The blonde asked. The Russian accent marked her words pretty clearly.

Amanda raised her hands, “Not fighting, for sure. Um, my friend Beast over here got kind of excited when she found you.”

At her side, Beast never stopped jumping in her place, and now she had a beam that even reached her eyes.

“Bibbit, they Bibbit!”

The redheaded girl gave a step forward, letting Beast’s mood get even higher. She almost stepped back, Amanda could tell, but went on anyways until she was right in front of her. She eyed them all one by one, but not as a depictive manner, but with intrigue. Finally, once her two other friends were besides her, she smiled. She had a little gap between her front teeth.

“Look, if it’s no one else than Project Incubus.” Redhead laid her look on her, “Are you their new acquisition?” 

“Wait, do you know what they are? Well,” She corrected herself, “More like, who they are?”

“Let’s say we shared our childhood playground.” Then she extended her hand to Amanda, “They know us as Project Valkyrie. Nice to meet you.”   


* * *

_ Extending his fingers, the bolts flooded from them, creating an electric web with a red shine in his own hands. It was awesome. He stared at the void, the blue light above him as the aurora borealis was also sparkling, but with a painful shine. He knew the time was running out, he had to act, as fast as he could. And that was now. And even if the world was an awful place, it needed him now. It needed his new powers.  _

_ So placing his hands in the blue mass, he grabbed the light sphere that he knew would take him to the place he had to be. Partly separated from the others, the little corner of the Universe that seemed to fit only by pressure, but that worked perfectly for his purpose. Putting to use his newly acquired abilities, he broke the ball, letting the essence from inside of it surround him completely, its colour gradually growing red. Slowly, he felt himself regenerating, the construction of his new bones, flesh and veins being there again. He quite missed the sensation. _

_ And after that, he fell. _

* * *

 

The door finally opened, making Ken look up from his folders. The man he was waiting for stepped in and took the seat in front of him. No matter how much he denied it to everybody dumb enough to ask, Ken was a little frightened by the man. Not only had he a reputation that would make anybody’s legs shake just by hearing it, but his whole appearance helped to build that unnerving image. He always stood as a military man, imposing on the other person the severity of his charge. The coldness of his look in such a demeaning manner sent chills down his spine when he encountered Ken by surprise in the corridors. And that stupid smile on his face splitted in half, being traversed by the awful scar that made Ken want to look away surely haunted more than one child’s nightmares.

But he needed him now, and here he was. Being the one in charge of making the Projects behave in the adequate way for the tests, he was the one to spent most of the time with them. He even lead lots of trials, since Ken was too busy with his own business to do so. He got inside of their heads, looking for their weak points to break them to the point of blind cooperation, so he knew more about them than any of the scientists who had written their records.

“I heard you wanted to see me.” His voice was quiet, calm. The sensation it inspired was the opposite, “Everything good in paradise, Mr Adams?”

“I wish I could say so. That’s why I brought you here, I need your help.”

A dark shadow came over his features, as if the ask for help meant another day of fun for him. It is certain he had heard Priest enjoyed his job. And after seeing him in some tests, before the work got out of his hands, the joyful attitude that he showed for inflicting pain in others, left him no doubts about the matter.

“What’s it about?”

“Project Marzanna.” Ken turned the monitor so he could see the screen. In there, Bart paced in circles in her cell. “It is believed she found a way to let us talk with the Universe itself.”

He raised his eyebrows with surprise, and he could swear he was avoiding a whistle in admiration. “Is a hell of a game what you got going there. And what do you need my help for, doesn’t want to work with you?” The lopsided smile accentuated, “‘Cause I thought you got that under control.”

Something crisped inside of Ken. He hated when people disrespected him like that, and only Priest had the position in that place to do so without consequences.

“The problem is not the Project’s desires, sir. But their abilities. Apparently, that line works in a one-way direction, and it is not one favourable for us. I want to know how to expand their perception. How can I improve their powers?” He leant on his elbows, ready to listen to his explication.

But he was granted with a loud laugh instead. He felt his insides boil.

“There’s no way you can do so, Supervisor. Sadly, your investigation team is still too useless to find a way to understand what their aptitudes are or where they come from, even less how to widen them.”

Ken let out a deep sigh as he pinched the skin between his eyebrows with his index finger and his thumb. He closed his eyes in resignation. It may have crossed his mind the sample of a quitting letter for Wilson.

“But,” He continued, making him open his eyes again, “This isn’t about what they can or can’t do. This even exceeds them and their pathetic ‘talents’,” He added air-quotes in the last word, “As you said, this is about the Universe. And when their tools are in danger, they must act, am I right?”

“Probably.” Ken brought his chair closer to the desk, “What’s your point, Mr. Priest? I’m kind of a busy man.”

The subtle disgust that sentence produced him was clear by the tug of his lips down for a second.

“Let’s say you leave project Marzanna to me. I’ll see the way to make her connection to the Universe… stronger.”

There was something in that offer that left Ken uneasy. Something that screamed ‘red alert’ at a maximum level. But again, there’s nothing else he could do but trust Priest.

He was already wondering if that was a good decision.

“It’s all yours then, sir.”

The creepy smile in his face intensified.

The next time he saw him, was through a one way window. Ken was sat in the test room, where the research team used to gather and scribble down the information from the machines. But this time, there was nothing to write down, so he was alone. On the other side, Priest was calibrating a machine in the wall opposite to the window. 

The room was entirely covered in white, from the tile walls to the doors. And it was completely empty if not for the machine Priest was working on and the wood chair connected to it. It reminded Ken of all the movies about psychopaths he’d seen in his childhood and teen years, with the steel helmet above it and all the colourful wires linking it to the engines. The door was soon open and Marzanna walked in, accompanied by two guards who held her as security. They didn’t seem so efficient though, as they were visibly shaking at her sides. Ken made a mental note to fire them later.

When Marzanna was left alone with Priest, she looked kind of lost. She had a frown on her face pointing at the chair in the middle of the room. Then she shifted her gaze to look at Priest.

“I thought we weren’t doing any tests,” She called out, as if everything was only an organization mistake, “It won’t work on me, remember?”

Ken had asked the same question to him, to which his response was that Bart’s non-killable powers were probably already turned off at this point.

“You’ve told us she did get hurt by that knife when she wanted to go against the old Cosmos trying to kill Icarus,” He had said, “So as long as she isn’t doing what the Universe wants to, she is completely alone in that matter, thrown to her own luck.”

Although he didn’t explain anything of that to her. Instead, Priest ordered her to sit in the chair, adjusting the leather straps to her wrists and ankles. Once she was tied up, with the helmet two sizes bigger on her head and visibly confused, the man stood right beside the machine, where a lever stood up to the front. The severity of his expression was enough to tell this was serious business.

“What about we go right to the point? We need you to talk.”

Bart gave him a puzzled look from under the helmet.

“To the Universe? But, I already told Ken, I can’t.”

“If you don’t want things to get heavy I suggest you start cooperating, Marzanna. We don’t have all day, y’know?”

“But… that’s not how this works.”

“Bad luck then,” He clicked his tongue, pulling the lever down. 

The sound of a snap was soon replaced by Bart’s screams. Her body shook with spasmodic moves as the electricity flooded from the device. Ken didn’t move to stop it. When Priest put the lever back in its place, Bart’s extremities were sill trembling for the shock. Her face, now red and with some tears falling from her eyes, showed confusion and a little bit of fear.

“How… how did you do that?” She asked. “That’s not supposed to happen.”

“Are you ready to speak now, dear Bart?” Priest smiled, not answering her initial question.

“I can’t get hurt,” She whispered, glancing at her shaky hands, “Why am I hurt?”

“Well, that don’t sound like a yes for me.”

He repeated the action, turning the intensity knob up to a higher level.

Ken watched as the process was done multiple times in which the punishment got more severe with each unwanted answer. And every single one of them had turned out in the same way, with Bart yelling about the impossibility of their requirements and Priest not caring at all about her opinion. 

But before he could shake his head and call it a day, Marzanna said something deserving of his attention.

“Wait,” She panted, her voice hoarse for the yelling, “It’s talking right now.”

“And what does it say?” Priest asked with an eyebrow lifting up in curiosity.

“It’s asking if I got the message.”

Her breath was pretty heavy, but Priest didn’t hesitate while enduring his look as his hand wrapped around the switch once more.

“Answer it, then.”

“I can’t,” She cried.

It wasn’t a surprise to see her back arching forward as the energy ran through her body again, this time with stronger power. The screech that left her throat was chill inducing. It was morphing slowly from an agonic howl to a terrifying ‘yes’ that reverberated in the whole room. And when Priest turned the machine off, Marzanna’s head fell to the front, being held only by the helmet attached to it. 

She mumble an unintelligible response.

“What’s that, Bart?” Priest walked until he was in front of her, and crouched to be at the same level.

Marzanna lifted her head with her last strength, clearly fighting against the fatigue. When she spoke, her voice was almost a whisper going up and down for the damage of the last hour. However, it still could be heard, and what she said left Ken at fainting point.

“It heard me.”

And her head fell again.

* * *

 

The sun was setting between the high buildings of the city. Under one of its bridges, the Rowdy 3 and Project Valkyrie were appreciating the view. As the rest of the guys played around with the rubbish, such as old TVs, glass bottles and different cans, Amanda sat on some rafter that was abandoned there. Beside her, Zia, the redhead, was imitating her. She was laughing along to something Beast was saying, but Amanda couldn’t hear over the sound of Cross and Vogel having fun breaking the trash with who she knew now as Diana, the Latin girl from the group. Martin was watching them, ready to cheer when Vogel hit the whole trash can with his bat, making the sound echo off the bridge walls. Some feet away, Grips was braiding that Russian girl’s hair, Astrid.  They seemed to be having fun with them.

“This little girl of yours is really amazing.”

Amanda turned to face Zia, who was stroking Beast’s hair with slow fingers, making the sixth Rowdy member close her eyes and leaned to her touch, just like a small puppy.

“Yeah, she’s really cool,” Amanda smiled, “We love having her around.”

Zia gave her a side-long look, examining Amanda from the corner of her eye. She was sitting gracefully in the concrete joist. With her middle tan skin she reminded Amanda of those Arabic princesses, except way cooler. And with better clothes. Her style was in fact really good.

“All of you are a strange group if I have to be honest.” She turned her look back at Beast. Her voice suddenly brought Amanda’s eyes back to her face, making her blush in the process, “Like, we know Incubus since Blackwing and they were already weird, but with you two in here it goes to a stranger level.”

“I guess,” She shrugged. “I mean, people really have to look twice when we pass by. And then they regret it when they get to the bats and the crossbows. But they make a great family…”

“I see,” She nodded. 

“You are awesome too by the way,” Amanda assured with a hand gesture, “You all work together like, I don’t know, the cooler version of the Powerpuff Girls. Like in all seriousness, how do you coordinate so well?”

Zia smiled at the ground before glancing at the group that was having brutal fun in the junkyard.

“We might be… kind of mind readers,” She whispered, sounding ashamed as if she didn’t just said the coolest thing ever.

“Wait, what?” Amanda fully turned to face her, catching the glimpse of a smile on her face, “Dude, you gotta be kidding me. Can you like, read my mind now? Or is it another holistic thing?”

“Well, it’s not like we control it. What we do is help potential heroes to fight their battles. So, in some way, we have to work alongside with them, and that means being completely connected to what they think, and be more than a team for them. So that’s all we do, we work as a perfectly oiled machine. We fight together, we link to our heroes… and sometimes we cheat at poker.”

“Didn’t you say it wasn’t on purpose?”

“The Universe provides what we need, I guess. It always happened when we needed money,” She explained before changing the subject, clearly happy of not being the centre of attention anymore. “I do have some questions about you too. Because, you aren’t some Blackwing experiment, but you aren’t a normal person if you’re with them either. So, who are you then, girl?”

Zia turned around to confront her face to face, and Amanda felt slightly self-conscious under her look.

“Oh, well I’m definitely not a holistic-anything. But I’m totally something. Like, a magical something.”

“Magic?” she raised her eyebrows.

“Yeah, like Universe magic. I don’t know if you know the term, but I might be a  _ witchakookoo _ ?”

“Not even a little.”

“Well, it’s basically a whole ‘reality-saviour’ kind of magic. I even have a wand and all.”

“Wait, like, a real wand?” Zia smirked, “As in fairy tale style?”

“I mean, I’m not the Fairy Godmother,” She laughed, surprised of seeing her doing the same. The sound was somewhat nice. “But kind of, yeah. Way more punk though.”

“With that look is kinda obvious.” But her smile faded into a thoughtful frown. “What did you say your mission was again?”

“According to what Wakti Wapnasi said, I must fix the fabric of reality.” The wand in her pocket felt heavier. “Gather the Universe tools and… make them, do something, I guess.”

“And those…” she gestured with her hands, trying to find the words, “ _ tools _ , they’re people like us, right?”

“Well, yeah, holistic people. Or… whatever they are,” Amanda brought a hand to her face, pinching the skin between her eyebrows. The whole situation of addressing the subjects in a non-insulting way would give her a headache eventually.

Zia nodded, landing her glance on the Rowdy’s van.

“I think you should change your vehicle,” She announced nonchalant, but inspecting the van with meticulous eyes. 

Amanda was taken aback by the abrupt change in the conversation, but even more because of her words. There was nothing wrong with their van. Ok, it might have had many engine problems that made the motor roar worryingly and it trembled a little bit too much to the left, but it was like their moving home, and that wouldn’t change that for shit.

“What do you mean?” She frowned at her, but Zia wasn’t even looking in her direction. She even seemed to be suppressing a smile. “There’s nothing wrong with our van.”

“Well, you don’t expect us all to fit in there,” She glanced over at her, the non-existent smile in her lips being clear in her eyes. “Right?”

“You… you’re coming over with us?”

The Rowdies growled over the sound of Zia’s innocent chuckling.

“Reality is a wreck right now. I can feel it. We all did with that… creepy dream,” Her brows knitted together for a moment.

“You had that dream too?” The memories of the boys shaking and whining until they woke her up assaulted her once more.

Zia shrugged with one shoulder.

“Shit that happens when you’re connected to the world. Things are a mess right now, Amanda. The Universe is unsteady, screaming for someone to save it. People are lost, and heading to a horrible end. So if you’re going to help,” she gently hit her shoulder, “then we’re surely following you behind.”

That was easy. Did it have to be that easy? 

The grin in Zia’s face was answer in itself. One that gave Amanda the hope she needed to convince herself of that.

* * *

 

The ring of the bell could be heard from the outside. Todd stood nervously next to him, scraping his foot nervously against the ground in what Dirk took as impatience. As the other side of the coin, he was feeling quite ecstatic. They had found a  _ clue _ . A real one. There was definitely something going on and this was where the Universe wanted them to be, not in some torturous adventure looking after whatever wanted to find him. It was such an excitement being back to the business that he was bouncing on his heels. As they heard some fast footsteps coming down the stairs, he took a step forward opening his mouth to start the investigation routine.

“Oh no,” Todd put a hand on his chest and made him step back, “I’ll do the talking now. You can’t go around saying you are a holistic detective to every person we interrogate or they’ll throw us to the street every time like the last one.” 

Dirk frowned disgusted at him while the door before them opened. They were met by the small figure of a young girl, probably around the six or ten years old. Ok, Dirk wasn’t really good at guessing ages. She was peering through the little gap with curious brown eyes.

“Who are you?” She asked.

“Hi, my name is Todd,” He greeted with his best fake smile, “My partner and I work at the newspaper and we…”

“Mom said I shouldn’t talk to strangers. What do you want?”

That stopped Todd in his place. If it wasn’t for the importance of the matter, Dirk would’ve laughed.

“Lizie?” A voice was heard from the inside. It sounded angry. “What did I tell you about opening the door?”

The little girl rushed to close said door in their faces. Dirk pressed his lips together and tilted his head.

“Good job, Todd,” He patted his shoulder as new footsteps got closer, “Now we’ll do it my way.”

The next person to receive them was a teenager. He supposed she was Lizie’s sister, as she had the same straight blonde hair and even if her eyes were lighter, her face still had a similar reassemble.

“Who are you?”

She even asked the same question.

“Hi!” Dirk greeted with his usual enthusiasm, “My name is Dirk Gently, I’m a holistic detective. And this is my lame assistant,” Todd threw him an annoyed look, “Todd Brotzman.”

“Wait, you said detective, as in private detective?” Her eyebrows drew together.

Dirk stood, mouth agape, before answering, “Kind of.”

But that seemed to be enough, as the young girl shook her head and fully opened the door to let them in. In his way, Dirk turned to Todd with a wide grin and mouthed “Ha!”.

Todd wasn’t happy about that.

Inside, the home was sort of a mess. There were clothes everywhere, like school uniforms laying on the floor, children socks over the small table in the living room and a ballerina tutu hanging from the fan in the ceiling. The furniture was out of place, which Dirk noticed for the armchairs that were turned down on the floor as the best example.

And a weird smell came from the kitchen that could easily be mistaken for food being burnt—and his easy recognition of this had nothing to do with the possible times in which Dirk had burnt Todd and his kitchen before. Upstairs, the noise of two children quarrelling, a girl and a boy, echoed in the whole house. It clearly distressed the teen, her uneasiness visible as she offered them a place in the sofa. She lifted the knocked armchair and took a seat in front of them, rubbing her neck with a sigh.

“I suppose you’ve read the newspaper, huh?”

“Yes, um, something like that,” He frowned, but recovered the kind expression in a second, “We know you already talked to the reporters, but we’d like to ask you some other questions. Is that okay with you?”

She nodded. Dirk did the same, joining his hands together to avoid fidgeting with them.

“Well, let’s start simple,” He offered her a nervous smile. Her lack of answers was startling him. “When was the last time you saw your mother?”

“Five days ago.” She twitched her nose, and tilted her head. “She was, um, she had gone somewhere…”

Her breathing was shaky and slow, and her hands had turned into fists. The trembling in her voice wasn’t good news either. Dirk turned to Todd, looking for a lead of what to do next. His eyebrows were pulled together, and he might have seen worry in his face.

“Um, dear, I’m sorry to say this but…” Damn, why was this so hard? “We need you to be more specific.”

“Yes, sorry, just…” Her voice broke at the end.

Dirk didn’t know what to do. He swallowed hard, trying to push down the knot that was taking shape inside his throat. The girl hid her face in her hands, trying to push the tears back. Dirk had to do something. How could you help someone that was crying when you didn’t know them? Even with Todd that was hard, even more so with Farah. Anxiety was taking control of him as he opened his mouth to at least say  _ something _ . Luckily, Todd was there to save the day, as usual.   
He stood up from his place, walking over to Lizie’s sister and crouched beside her. He stretched his hand and put it over her shoulder. His look had softened, and after he licked his lips he cleared his throat to call her attention.

“Hey,” She raised her head, her eyes were wet. “What’s your name?”

“Riley,” She whispered.

“Well, Riley, I have a younger sister too, you know? Her name is Amanda,” Se smiled, in that way that only her name could make him smile. It looked good on him. Dirk felt himself obliged to pay attention, since the voice he was using was so captivating. “I know being the older sibling is tiring. That you have to put up a strong image to help your sister and your brother. But it’s good to let yourself free sometimes. We’re your friends here, you don’t have to pretend. Talking about your mother is obviously going to be hard, so don’t feel pressured. You want to cry?  Go ahead. We’re here to help you understand the disappearance of your mother, there’s no need to fake strength.”

Dirk’s lips pursed as he kept staring at him. Todd was getting that good side out of its shell, the one he constantly hid with a punk, fuck-the-system attitude. Acting so older-brother like with Riley only accentuated it. He only showed that in the most intimate moments, like when Dirk had a particularly bad nightmare, or when Farah had one of her confidence attacks. Whenever Dirk brought up the subject he washed it off, proclaiming such thing didn’t exist. And now, with his face completely relaxed, Dirk was jealous of not getting to see that more often. He didn’t want to look away, afraid of missing that secret part of his best friend. And he would’ve kept staring if it wasn’t for Riley’s next words that caught his attention.

“But that’s the point. My mother hasn’t disappeared.”

“What do you mean when you say she hasn’t disappeared?” He inquired with a light frown. 

The girl sighed.

“There was a day… She likes running. Like, a lot, she’s always been kind of a freak with exercise. But when I came back from school she wasn’t at home like always. I thought

‘Hey, she must be with Hannah’, our neighbour. But she didn’t come back until midnight and we were alone all day.”

“And where was your father?” The worried tone hadn’t left Todd’s voice.

“They’re divorced,” Riley shook her head along the words. “He moved to Detroit after that.”   
But there was something that didn’t fit in the puzzle.

“So, if your mother did come back after all, where is she now?”

Riley shrugged at Dirk. Her eyes were still locked in the rug beneath her feet.

“She was all weird when she came back. Didn’t talk to us, didn’t cook… I had to make dinner for Lizie and Tom. And next morning, when I got up to prepare myself for school, I saw her in her PJ’s heading out to the street. She didn’t answer when I called her. It was strange, but I let it pass, thinking she only went to the garden to check the plants. But she never came back. And it’s, not, like she would do that,” She explained, with a nervous smile. Her nerves were increasing and with them, Dirk’s uneasiness. “She was into an important project at work and, well, she told me everything about it. She always told me everything, and, well, she was like, so hyped up and proud and  _ hella _ sure she was getting a promotion because of it…”

Riley trailed off, and as Dirk’s breathing got heavier and his pounding heart could surely be heard from the second floor, the tears accumulated in her eyes finally fell down her cheeks.

“Why didn’t she come back?” She asked, feeling lost, as if she couldn’t understand why her mother would leave her like that.

Dirk swallowed hard, unable to look away from her. Something in how broke she was wrapped around his throat, threatening to leave him out of breath in seconds. It was the feeling of a broken family, the view of a child whose only support left her all of a sudden, that tightened his chest and made his view glassy. Unexpected flashbacks almost dragged the repressed memories back to the present, if it wasn’t for Todd’s interruption, clearing his throat. That broke Dirk’s concentration, who had blinked before standing up from his seat.

“We’re going to figure it out,” Todd promised.

“Yes, um, and why if while you go ahead with this situation, I, ah, call Farah?” Dirk wrung his hands in the attempt of keeping the calm he had clearly already lost. He drew back, trying to get to the door and knocking a lamp in the process. “It looks like you’re handling it pretty well.”

Without waiting for an answer, Dirk stormed out of the house, pinning himself to the wall once he was outside. A quivering sigh escaped his mouth as he sent a quick message along the lines of  _ “Got new information. Quite odd. See you when we’re done” _ , to which Farah answered with a thumbs up.  Dirk took his time to settle his breathing, bending forward and holding all his weight in his hands getting hold of his knees.

When Todd finally got out, in complete silence as Riley closed the door after him thanking them for their help, Dirk was composed again. For the most part, at least. However that didn’t stop Todd from eyeing him suspiciously.

“What was all that?”

“All what?” 

Todd snorted, clearly not having any of his lies. Damn, he was really good at that.

“That nervous crisis you had over there, that’s ‘all that’,” He bit his lip, as if hesitating on what to say next, “Look, I’m telling you the same I told Riley, if there’s something upsetting you or, I don’t know, startling you, you can tell me about it. I’m your… your friend after all.” He placed a firm grip on his shoulder, “There’s no need to hide it.”

“Oh no, no, it’s not like that. I already know that, Todd, I really do,” He smiled down weakly, silently grateful for the support, and hoping that someway the feeling reached him.

“Is just not something I’d like to discuss right now.”

Todd nodded in understanding. He removed his hand of Dirk’s shoulder, leaving the spot it was previously on peculiarly cold. 

“Alright. As long as you’re okay…”

The image of Riley came to his mind, with wet eyes and red nose. Her look lost in the distance, like a young child whose parents had given up on him. A chill went up Dirk’s back.

“We really have to find these people, Todd,”

“Yes.” He glanced at him sideways, with something in his eyes Dirk couldn’t put his finger on. “Yes we do.”

But after leaving the house, all the posterior meetings were more likely the same. They talked with sisters, sons, mothers and husbands; all of them reporting the same: none of their beloved ones felt like themselves at the moment they left and every single one of them did so in such ridiculous circumstances. Dirk’s head was starting to hurt.   
Sitting at the dinner table of the motel, with the not-so-pleasant sound of the news talking about a new sort of epidemic in Florida, papers full of valuable observations—thanks to Farah—and the pictures of the “missing” persons, trying to connect all the pieces was gruelling. Principally, because there was no visible connection there. And Dirk’s funny hunches weren’t helpful at all. Not only they weren’t suggesting anything about the thirty missing persons, but it kept screaming about that goddamn door in their hallway, which he really didn’t want to check.

Todd and Farah didn’t have much luck either. Farah, who was sitting in front of Dirk, was still reading for tenth time all her papers and Todd beside him kept tapping his fingers against the wood table. The upsetting energy around them was palpable, and the silence in the ambient was so heavy that both Farah and him jumped in their places when Todd slammed his open hands on the hard surface.

“I don’t understand,” He stated with pursed lips, “Like, any of this. There’s no possible relation between all this people!”

“Don’t give up just now. There has to be something,” Farah, the voice of reason, spoke.

“How?” Todd grabbed picture by picture while saying out loud: “One of them left at the middle of graduating from college, other left half way through the birth of his daughter, we have a guy who was going to get assigned with a millionaire project and lots of other different people! How can  _ that _ be connected?”

“Maybe Dirk can…?”

Farah’s voice was full of hope, so it made his heart ache shaking his head.

“Sorry,” Dirk pouted, really feeling his words, “That’s not…”

“How it works,” She finished, closing her eyes with a tired sigh. “Yes, sorry. My mistake.” Todd snorted as he put the photos back in their place. They were all clearly exhausted.

After the interviews they came back to the motel with more questions than answers, and even if Donna was leaving them a good ration of food to supply them more than fine, the appetite wasn’t there at all.

There was a famous proverb that said “To fully understand something one mustn’t see the tree but the woods instead.” Getting the whole picture instead of focusing on each pixel. And Dirk was pretty good at that. His whole thing worked because he was great at catching woods. Excellent, even... Okay, maybe not that good, but the talent was there. But now, they only had a bunch of trees to begin with, and they all seemed to become from a different stock.    
They needed something more. Something to pull them up and see the entire wood.

Dirk’s eyebrows pulled together as a thought started to take form in his head.

“But what if that’s it?”

Todd hummed, turning his head at him, and Farah lent forward across the table.

“What are you implying?” Her brown eyes shined in curiosity.

“That what if it’s meant to be disconnected.” He grabbed a bunch of pictures, “All these people are different genders, different ages, and have different lives. There’s no way in which they could be related. Even their disappearances don’t make any sense. But what if the thing that links them just… isn’t here?”

The sound of other steps filled the room as the emotion bloomed in Todd’s face, reminding Dirk of the Patrick Spring’s case. That was an expression he’d like to see more often.

“Wait, you mean, we are missing something?” Todd asked, leaving space for Mrs Denver to lift their untouched plates.

“Exactly.” Dirk could literally feel himself vibrate on the inside from the excitement. The flow of the Universe finally gave him a lead, and he’d grip it tight as if his life depended of it. “There’s something else out there, a factor we need to fully understand it. Perhaps another missing person.”

The hostess froze in her place for a second before returning to her task. Dirk was oblivious of that, but Todd had noticed it while Farah shuffled on her bag.

“Maybe it has something to do with her,” She said placing the folded picture that came with the postcard who started everything. “After all, she is the one who brought us here, so-”

The sound of the plates crashing against the floor left Farah with her words in her mouth. Mrs Denver had covered her mouth, suffocating a gasp as she picked up the picture with her free hand.

“Are you okay?” The voice of Donna could be heard from the reception, where she had switched to clean.

“Is everything alright, Mrs Denver?” Farah adventured, her voice as cautious as she was capable of.

“The photo,” She whispered. The woman sounded like a mix of relieved and troubled.

“Do you know, that girl, Mrs?” Todd asked in the same way as Farah.

“Yes… she is Arianna.” Her eyes had filled with tears as bit a small smile out of her lips. “She’s my daughter.”   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aish, not to say that here things start to get weird but... things are starting to get weird


	3. III. A magnet for holistic people

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello back! I'm sorry this took so long, I swear I am really invested in this story, just had technical problems hehe.  
> Also, it is my birthday today! So what is better than posting a new chapter about this story I love so much to celebrate it, am I right?  
> Anyway, I hope you like this! (please be kind)

 

In the few years the kingdom had been standing, never in its history had the people seen a day as cheerful as the present. The central square where the punishments once took place was immersed in several colours and music of all kinds. Large wood tables decorated with green plants in all their glory, displayed different dishes of food that shone under the warm afternoon sun. Laughter could be heard in every corner of the kingdom where the simple and welcoming ceremony would be carried out, the ceremony in which the Dengdamor and Trost families finally would be united in peace.

In the middle of the square, a white wooden arch rose up above the altar, with thin golden ties coiling along it. The celebration was open for all Wendimoor, to show the lack of barriers that the wedlock between the eldest sons from both families symbolized. A big part of the population was congregated there, making a line-up of popping heads that ended where the woods bordered with the village.

In the first row, Wygar Oak, the Queen Frija’s  right hand, smiled proudly at the oldest of the Dengdamor children, his protégé and best friend. At his side, Silas’ mother, solemn as always with her ceremonial clothes, provided him a look he never thought seeing in her, one of love and satisfaction. Even his brother Farson was there, standing behind him as his companion, sending him his support as energy waves that Silas used to calm his nerves. He supposed in the other side full of pink haired heads where Panto’s family took seat they would be doing the same for him. He even got to see the sparkling smile Litzibitz exhibited behind his fiancé.

And oh Moon, if he didn’t look fantastic. Just in front of Silas, seconds away from starting their actual wedding, Panto smiled warmly at his lover, scaring all his worries and angsts away immediately. Looking at him like that, so close to him and with that loving look, made the years of hiding and secrets worth it all.

“We´re finally here, huh?” He whispered as the final touches were arranged.

“It seemed like an eternity,” Panto returned with a sweet smile, lightly taking his hand, “but it’s happening now.”

“There’s nowhere else I’d like to be.” His words were lost in between the last mutterings as the flutes began to play, but the shine in Panto’s eyes assured him they were heard.

As both the Dengdamors and the Trosts carried different traditions, planning the wedding was the worst battle Silas has ever been part of. His mother’s ferocity and Jeppum Trost’s stubbornness battled terribly to defend their ideas, tearing down anyone who stood in their way. The yelling and door slamming he’d heard in that tortuous week served him enough for a whole year at least. So the wisest decision, thanks to Panto’s sister, had been taking the most transcendental rites and fuse them into one that portrayed the imaged of both families in their totality.

The arc was courtesy of the Trosts, as well as the tables and the food, so rustically decorated giving it a country-like and familiar touch to the decoration. The Dengdamors, for their part, contributed with the musicians and the exotic plants that added a more radiant look but that blended in with the rest of the adornments perfectly. The mix of farm life and nobility, both sides signatures, resulted overwhelming. To see both sides, so different one from the other, merging in front of his eyes with small details that meant a completely new future both terrified him and excited him at the same time.

As soon as the music began, both turned back to take from their companion’s arms a bit of pale pink fabric. Then, they joined their hands in the air and tied both strips around their wrists. That tradition came from Panto’s family, and the meaning behind it kept so much meaning Silas couldn’t help but adding it to their own wedding.

“The bands are a symbol,” Panto had explained one starry night while they laid in his farm’s yard, cuddling in the grass, “it means union. Love. A promise on time to stay together, no matter what. Once you’re married, you’re tied to the other for all eternity.”

Silas smiled from remembering it, as they tied the last knot between them. The breath stuck in his throat as he comprehended the weight of what they were about to do, but with only one look at Panto’s face, air wasn’t that important anymore.

Clearing his throat, as he took his other hand, Silas prepared himself for the most important part of the ceremony, the one that began to consolidate their marriage. The Oath, present in every single one of the Dengdamor’s weddings since the first generation. The Oath that once his father and mother did, and that Silas never thought would be capable of saying out loud with the man in front of him.

“From the depths of the forests to the tops of the mountains, everyone will hear my voice.” His eyes were already itchy. And he had promised himself not to cry…

“In the bottom of the lake, or in the train in the sky, no one will shut my words.” Panto’s voice filled his ears, with that beautiful ring of his that turned Silas’ legs into an unstable mess.

“That I love you, and forever, our destiny will be sealed…”

Panto leaned until their foreheads were touching each other, and although everyone was silent, letting him be heard by all the people present, Silas felt his words were only meant to be heard by him, “To grow together. To feel together. To be together, at will.”

And by last, before ending with the suffered waiting from both parts, a kiss. A simple gesture that would certificate their alliance once and for all. Silas was already going for it when a strong thump in the middle of the room called the attention of everyone.

Frustrated, Silas turned his head at the commotion. In the floor, a man dressed in completely black and weird clothes rubbed his head, disorientated. Only once he had seen that kind of clothes: The day where the prophecy was fulfilled and Dirk Gently saved the entire kingdom by bringing The Boy back.

“Uh-um, I’m not-” The man struggled with his own words, “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

In less than a second, Panto’s sword, that barely left his side, flew until it was inches apart from the stranger’s nose. The look in his lover’s eyes had gone from loving to dead-cold too fast.

“Who are you?” He asked, aiming his weapon dangerously at his face. Silas didn’t want to be the person standing in the wrong end of those scissors. “What is your intention here?”

“Well, it does look like a bad moment,” He squeaked at the proximity of the pointy metal.

“Do you come from the other world?” Panto’s words almost sounded like an accusation, as his jaw clenched and his lips pressed tightly into a thin line. The man visibly gulped while he gawked in search of an answer.

“Dude, those are like, too many questions,” He clarified. “And yes, I come from Earth, if that’s what you mean. Although, I haven’t been there recently. Like, I was part of the Universe, but more like, _inside_ , of the Universe? If that makes any sense?” He lifted an eyebrow in confusion. It was clear for Silas not even him understood the meaning of his words.

“What do you want on our reign?” The voice of his mother was heard over the mumbling of the civilians that had started to mutter. The whole thing was making Silas nervous. His presence couldn’t be a good omen.

The guy sighed, clearly annoyed of their presence as if he wasn’t the one crashing into the wedding. “That thing again. I want to talk to the child.”

“What child?” Silas decided to intervene, trying to not feel so useless in the situation. With his poor sword skills he couldn’t really provide any valuable help to the situation.

“You know, the child with the power?” He moved his hand to recreate explosions. “The kid who created all of you? Project Moloch?”

“He’s talking about The Boy,” Litzibitz gasped behind Panto. Her brother’s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward to be at his eye-level, forgetting his other hand was still tied to Silas’.

“Why do you want to talk to King Francis? What’s your matter with him?”

“Look,” He stated, moving away the sword before it came back on its place, “the world is in danger, and there’s this guy who’s gonna like, kill us all, and I want to do the right thing. If you want to come and check, alright, go ahead, but I need to talk to that ‘boy’.”

Silas watched as Panto hesitated, frowning at his sword as he thought about the stranger’s words. He couldn’t be considering it, not now, when they seemed to be so close to their goal. But when he sighed, Silas knew the decision was made.

And if he’d learnt something over the years they were together is that when Panto had decided something, nothing would stop him, not even Silas.

“Alright, odd-looking man. I’m taking you over to our king,” He straightened his back, still holding the scissors at a considerable distance from the man.

“Cool,” He smiled goofily, but his eyebrows drew together as he reconsidered his words, “Did you call me weird?”

“Are you leaving?” Silas grabbed Panto’s arm in the last hope to make him stay, “Right now?”

“I know it’s too soon, my love,” Panto look sadly down at him as he cut the stripes tying them together, “but I’ve got to do this. There’ll be time to marry when this is over and you’ll never have to wait for me again.”

“Wait, are you two guys in the middle of your wedding?” The man pointed at both of them with wide eyes.

Silas sighed deeply, before glancing over at him once more.

“I’ll count the seconds until you come back,” He asserted with a last squish in his arm. He let his fingers linger on Panto’s arm a little more than needed before letting go of him though, reticent of his departure.

“We’ve waited for years, I can wait for a few minutes.” The look in his eyes hardened as Panto turned to the blond man, still staring at them with a huge frown, “Let’s go, or I’ll regret not killing you right away.”

That seemed to take him out of his confused state, as he gave them sharp nods in response.

“No killing, got it. Good decision,” He showed them his thumbs. Silas couldn’t believe how stupid people from the Old World looked.

“But who are you to speak to the Boy?” Mr Trost’s voice roared loudly at his right. He had appeared over Litzibitz’ back and now was sending furious daggers with his eyes in his direction. His question was more than correct. “We’re not going to send the first no-one that presents to us with our King.”

“Oh, yeah, I can answer that question,” The man nodded with a lop-sided grin. “The name’s Friedkin. Hugo Friedkin.”

 

* * *

 

The leather in the steering wheel fitted comfortably in Zia’s hands as she tried her best to follow the Rowdy’s van, that drove tumbling to both sides in front of them. According to Amanda’s visions, this city they had to go next had a shortcut in the streets of a town called “Pueblo”, but she didn’t think going across it was a good idea at all.

After joining the group in its search for the ex-Blackwing projects, Martin and Cross found them an abandoned car under the bridge they were in so space wouldn’t be a problem for them. They even decorated it with a messy three painted in aerosol on the hood. Zia had to admit it, it gave the boring white car a nice look.

They’ve been driving for five hours, leaving Albuquerque far behind. Despite the uneasiness that leaving the city produced the perspective of the open road helps to cleanse her mind a little bit. Diana, who had been in the driver’s seat until an hour ago, asked her to swap places leaving her as shotgun, so as Zia attempted to keep up with the Rowdy’s pace in the beaten-up street, Diana rested beside her with her feet up on the dashboard as she absently inspected her nails. Behind her, Astrid played with the braids Gripps had made in her shoulder-length hair as she argued with Diana over the radio station she had chosen.

“I don’t want any more punk music or I’ll cut my ears off,” She snapped with her thick accent. The way she remarked some letters had always made Zia smile.

“Shut up, _Husky_. Unless you want me to put some of that wonderful music you despise so bad.” The smirk Diana shared at their friend’s nickname was contagious. It was a certain way to get on her nerves, and she'd never let the opportunity of doing so pass.

“ _Bachata_ is no music at all,” She rolled her eyes. Astrid had a hateful relationship with that specific music genre, one that Zia never could understand nor tried to anymore. “I don’t know what sense of taste do you have in Guatemala, Diana, but it can’t be that good if you like that unironically.”

“Whatever keeps you sane.” The Latin girl turned back to the little mirror to comb with her hands the savage copper hair that fell on the left side of her face, leaving the shaven part of her head exposed. “And it’s not punk, it’s _rock_. There’s a difference between them, you know?”

“Sounds pretty metal for me.” Astrid kicked the driver seat, taking Zia out of her focus. “What do you think, Zia? Is it rock or more of that _shit_ Incubus play non-stop.”

Both heads turned to her, seeking for her approval. She sighed fondly. Seriously, the speed with which those two could start quarreling over nothing was impressive.

“It is definitely rock,” The sounds of Astrid’s booing and Diana’s cheering collided, “but their loud music isn’t trash either, you guys are just mean.”

And she regretted her election of words immediately after they left her mouth, as her friends decided they were the most hilarious thing they’ve ever heard. Diana’s eyes sparkled as Astrid exploded in laughter behind her, and Zia knew right there that she would never see the end of this one.

“Did you just use a _meme_ out loud?” Diana twisted her whole body to face her, making it more of a big deal as Zia wanted it to be. She restrained herself from rolling her eyes and settled by just biting her lower lip to suppress a smile.

“No, wait, I-I’m serious,” She tried to convince them, but Diana was already busy sliding back to her seat while laughing, grabbing her stomach with both hands. “It’s not that bad. Maybe just a little… kind of angered? But, it’s not like anarcho punk.”

“Come on,” Astrid threw herself against the backseat, “you say that because you have a new crush on that Amanda girl.”

The car almost hit the hydrant on the sidewalk, only being avoided by Zia’s driving abilities—that were almost perfect, dare she say it. Both of her companions had to get a tight grip on their seats to avoid being thrown to the other side of the vehicle, and they may have squeaked in the process too.

“Damn it, I didn’t think it was too serious Zia.” Astrid teased clicking her tongue as Diana giggled in the background.

“I _do not_ have a crush on Amanda,” Zia glared at her through the rear-view mirror. “She just happens to be with Incubus at the moment of a very important mission, and I thought helping her would be a good idea. They’d never find the others without our support.”

Silence settled amongst them, as she turned off the radio that swapped the furious songs for plain static. Diana at her side twitched her hands nervously as a frown took place in her face.

“You really think it’s possible though? Finding all of them?” Her eyes wandered until they found Zia’s face. She couldn’t get a good look of her for the poor street lightning that almost summed them in the shadows, but under the dim light, the trouble in her eyes was noticeable enough.

“Sounds a little impossible, considering Blackwing it’s still operating.” Zia could agree with Astrid, and the poison in her voice matched Zia’s chill perfectly.

Even though they could escape years ago, the memories of their time in the CIA facility never disappeared. The cold metal that constantly surrounded them, making sure they couldn’t move an inch from their chairs where day by day, with the solitude they went through in the isolated spaces, it was expected they accomplished their stupid tests. Interrogating fake suspects, attempting to guess what picture was hiding behind the card being held before them. The painful experience of failing again and again, and the scarce rewards when chance was on their side and the answer was correct.

And that doomed smile, colder than the empty rooms and more horrifying than any experiment. The smile that lurked behind every shadow, threatening to find them at every step they made. That smile was the only thing keeping Zia on the move, always walking, never stopping.

Yes, Blackwing was going to be a problem. She just expected it wasn’t one they couldn’t solve.

“Do you think they’ll take us back there?” Diana whispered with a vulnerability that scarred Zia’s heart.

She couldn’t imagine that after how much Incubus had suffered inside the program they’d want to risk going through it again. That people was no game, and despite how rude they could look and how hard they’d bite and punch, Zia didn’t know of anyone who could escape from Blackwing’s claws without a scratch. Nevertheless, most of the projects Amanda needed to find were there, and the facility’s headquarter would be one of their destinations sooner or later.

The thought alone was scary enough, thinking of it as a possibility… she hoped not.

“Not in my watch.” Zia pulled the handbrake as the van stopped ahead of them. They could already hear the Rowdy’s energic growling, announcing their presence. “Wherever they’re taking us, is under our terms.”

The guys had stopped in the middle of a desolated street. There didn’t seem to be so much action besides the few cars that occasionally passed by. The poor orange light barely illuminated the road, and thanks to the fallen lamppost in the corner, the lightning wasn’t the most appropriated. Zia walked over to where Amanda was speaking with Martin, both reclined against the vehicle. At a short distance, Gripps and Cross looked like they were arguing as Vogel and Beast watched, participating with some interventions from time to time.

“What happened?”

“We ran out of gas,” Amanda snorted. “Gripps says he calculated the amount we needed a few stations back, but Cross is sure que was wrong.”

“And why don’t they just forget it and go to bring some more?” She questioned.

“Numbers don’t lie, dude!” Gripps shouted energic, “You fucked it up!”

“Gripps is very proud of his math,” Martin smirked before deciding to interrupt the discussion that had started to heat-up.

“Martin is like an Alpha for them,” Amanda supplied. “They do whatever he says, no second thoughts.”

“I thought they called _you_ their ‘boss’.” She crossed her arms over her chest, taking the place Martin had left.

Gripps and Cross were attentively listening to the older Rowdy’s words, and they ended up calming down once he made them stretch their hands with a condescending nod from both parts.

“Well,” Amanda shrugged with an amused smile, “that's because I’m his Alpha.”

“Who’s gonna help me with these?” Cross asked rising some red plastic petrol cans. “Not gonna fill alone.”

“I’ll give you a hand with those.”

Diana jumped from the roof of their car and jogged until she and Cross were walking at the same pace, loudly talking about the parked cars that looked abandoned a few streets back. Gripps just went to sit on the open van, muttering something under his breath. Zia was trying to convince Amanda of changing their route—something about a motorway faster to drive than the suburbs—, so Astrid went to sit next to him.

“Mind if I join you?”

“Go ahead,” He patted the spot next to him.

She slowly let herself fall in there, making the van move a little under her weight. At least that made him smile. He had a beaten down can of Diet Coke in his hand, spinning around his fingers. Astrid licked her lips, trying to find something to talk about with him, and the glimpse of her tied hair came right in hand.

“I liked what you did with my hair,” she smiled at him, taking the braids between her middle and index fingers. “They’re pretty.”

“Thanks, been practicing for a while.” His look softened as his lips curled up slightly at the corners

“Didn’t know Beast liked this stuff.”

Amanda didn’t seem like the braids-kind-of-girl for Astrid. Gripps chuckled though, dismissing her theory.

“No, way earlier. Didn’t even know the guys.” He threw the soda can over his shoulder, hitting the back of the van with a loud bang. “I had three little sisters, was in charge of them when growing up. Really funny. We did lots of things, like clothes, nails, hair… they were all tiny beauties.”

His voice turned nostalgic, and Astrid got almost uncomfortable of asking about it. It wasn’t hard to imagine Gripps being in charge of some little girls. In fact, now that she heard it, it sounded very logical. The image of the big guy taking care of the three creatures was endearing in her mind, Gripps trying to do one’s hair while complimenting another. Maybe with the third one hanging of his neck. And the best part was it looked so natural. Turning to see the expression on his face, Astrid saw the remains of a happy past.

She wondered if Blackwing ever got their hands in them, and how scary that would’ve been, little children that had nothing to do with them being blamed by someone else’s existence. It reminded her of herself, all those years back to when she was only a scared little kid, crying silently until the next test was brought up to her.

When she was a completely different person.

“But I had to leave ‘em.” Gripps chuckled lightly while his eyes fixed on the sky. “Man, I was going to study!”

“You were?” She raised an comical eyebrow at him, not really having it.

“’Course I was! I wanted to be the raddest mathematician ever. Can count as fast as a cheetah runs.”

“Really? Then… how many miles have we made?”

“Three hundred and fifty two.”

“How many cities did we pass?”

“Twenty, counting only the highway.”

“How many hairs are in my head?”

“One hundred and fifty-four thousand seven hundred eighty.”

“You’re making that up!” She giggled.

“Swear it’s the truth!”

Astrid leaned in her knees, waiting for her laugh to die in her lips. She thought seeing Amanda turn at them from her strategic chat metres away from them, but she didn’t care enough to double-check it. Once her stomach relaxed, she rested her shoulder against the open door of the van, lifting her glance to the dark night sky covering them above.

“And what did you do before?”

“Hm?” She asked, distracted by the little white dots shining over their heads.

“Blackwing.”

Oh. Yes.

She took her eyes apart from the sky to look at Gripps. She babbled an unintelligible answer that not even her understood as her hands rubbed her thighs as a way of avoiding her mind to go back to dark places. Places covered in shadows that she had locked under the stairs of her mind and whose key she’d thrown away.

“Hey, no pressure!” He lifted his hands in the air. “Don’t wanna make you say bad stuff.”

“No, it’s… I didn’t have a proper life before Blackwing.”

Astrid brought a hand to her wrist instinctively. The reflex of her memory was still there, knocking on the door of her subconscious, praying to be heard. She sent it a way with the shake of her head.

“My family didn’t really like me when I was a child. They thought I was… wrong. Broken.” The ghost of a scream hovered on her ear. “When Riggins’ program came to my country asking people to help them in their search of freaks, they gave me right away.”

“You’re not American?”

“Russian,” she nodded. “Don’t know if you noticed Blackwing had gone worldwide for their little prizes.”

A grip as strong as ice, so cold it burned her skin, rose in the surface of her memory. She actually felt in her perfectly covered wrist how it tugged from her as her younger-self cries resounded in the inside of her mind. The feeling of vomit went up to her throat and stay there even after she spoke again.

“It wasn’t a happy time.”

Gripps nodded in complete quietness. He must have felt how the atmosphere thickened, because he wasn’t pushing further nor trying to talk to her to do so. He was just there, accompanying, simply staying. She silently thanked him for that.

“Past is tricky.” He said after a while, the sudden presence of words feeling almost too heavy. “Must leave it behind if it doesn’t help.”

“Yeah… I’ve been trying to do so all my life.”

He nodded.

“And after you got out… did anything make you happy?” he tried changing the subject. “Like, turning your tummy all funny and stuff?”

“I don’t know.” Her frown deepened in thought. “Never really stopped to think about it.”

She thought about her time with the girls, the group where she found a support that faded away all the past shadows that darkened her mind. She remembered the times they took turns to fool men with arms full of gold bracelets and watches that looked scornfully at them when they won them over in card games. She remembered how they fought side by side, helping those in need of protection to defend themselves, to fight their own battles. She remembered Diana’s laugh, strident in the morning wind as a call for fun. She remembered Zia’s hugs, strong enough to pull all your pieces together again. And she remembered the picture of them, full of folds and worn out by the time, the one she took some day with a stolen camera and that still remained inside the pocket of her cargo trouser.

“Photography.” Her lips curled up in a small smile. “I would’ve like to do photography.”

“Ohhh, Drummer takes photos with her phone. Very cool.”

She was about to tell him the difference between a mobile phone and a camera when a pair of knuckles knocked on top of her head. Turning around she saw the rainbow-haired girl that ran her curious eyes full of wonder through her face.

“Bibbit!”

“She’s Beast, right?”

At the mention of her name she started bounding and nodding with an emotion Astrid found enviable. Her arms were naked, vulnerable to the almost frozen air that blew the streets of Pueblo, awaking the desire of a strong wool sweater like those she used back home from the bottom of her heart. Sure it was going to snow if it kept being that cold. But the monster girl didn’t seem having any problem with that, as she didn’t shrink in herself when a sudden breeze made Astrid’s neck hide even more in the green jumper that covered her upper body.

“Looks like the climate doesn’t affect her, huh?”

“Beast is strong. Her body doesn’t feel cold or hot. Maybe that’s why she runs so fast,” Gripps frowned down at the floor.

Astrid offered her a hand for a high-five, but she only took it and kept glancing towards the same road they drove minutes before.

“Bibbit, Bibbit!”

“You say she’s the one who helped you find us?” Beast decided her hand wasn’t making the effect she wanted, so she decided to grab her clothes instead.

“Oh yes, very good finder.”

“And why does she call us like that?” She asked as Beast tugged from her sleeve. “It’s not the first time I hear that name from her.”

“Well, that’s how she called the Brit before.”

“Brit?” Astrid ignored how Beast pulled from her hair with a delicate intensity now. “What kind of people do you know guys?”

“He’s Drummer’s friend. Project Icarus, remember?”

“How couldn’t I,” she snorted. “He was Riggins’ favourite.”

The rainbow girl didn’t desist on trying to claim her attention, trying by all means make her stand up from her already cold seat. She grunted in irritation, as if she wanted to say something and no one listened, so she came to Astrid for another attempt. All her body, or the part that wasn’t focused on clenching in her clothes at least, was pointing to the end of the street, and her look directed to the diversion that would take them to the inner part of the city.

“And she got fond of Icarus too?”

Gripps gave a long whistle.

“She never separated from him.”

Astrid looked back at the nervous mess groaning in front of her. There was something in her eyes, a frustration that she could clearly see between the swirl of colours in her irises. She was desperate for someone to just follow her.

“And she joined your group when you first met? No second guessing at all?”

Gripps’ brows pulled together, maybe starting to tie things together.

“Yeah… she didn’t skip a beat.” He threw a new look to her, like he just discovered Beast was there.

“Don’t you think there might be a reason why it had been so easy to find us?”

Before letting him answer Astrid was already on her feet running to where Martin tried calmly to convince Zia on following the route they traced in the map. For the pointed look on her face, it didn’t seem to be working.

Astrid got there with Beast following her behind and Gripps jogging two or three steps back. The Wendimoor woman was keeping hold of her leg, still pulling to the opposite side form where she was heading to. The conversation that Martin was apparently having with himself at this point ended when Zia turned to look at her, giving her the permission to interrupt, if not begging her to do so.

“Everything alright, Astrid?” She asked, with a tone that left clear the discussion was over. “Mr I Am Always Right was talking about some alternative roads…”

Amanda stifled a giggle as Martin shoot her a pointed look.

“That’s not what-”

“I know how to find the projects.”

The three of them closed their mouths at the same time, only to open them later with a wave of questions.

“Don’t ask me why,” She chimed in before they drowned her with the ‘what’s and the ‘how’s, “but I think Beast has some kind of weird radar inside her.”

“For what? Fast food?” Amanda prompted, ‘Cause we’ve seen her jump for a burger before, but I don’t think that’ll help us attract projects all over America.”

“No… and that’s weird,” she shook her head. “I meant to find them, she seems to, I don’t know, be attracted. Like, as a magnet…”

“A magnet for holistic people?” Zia’s forehead creased at the same time her arms crossed over her chest.

“I guess?” She shrugged helpless.

“But it can’t be it,” Amanda had her lips pressed tightly as her brows met on her forehead. She glanced up at Martin, who had his eyes fixed on the unnerving woman growling at Astrid’s feet. “She would’ve told us something.”

“Don’t think she knows it Drummer. She seems to be…”

“Trying to show us something,” Zia muttered thoughtfully. Then she lifted her eyes until the found Amanda’s. “I think she’s right.”

“So is it going to be that easy?” She frowned, and Astrid understood. It sounded far too perfect. “We just have to follow her lead?”

“Or at least give her a chance,” Gripps said from Astrid’s back. She didn’t realise when he got there.

“Say no more, then.” Martin picked the map and folded it without much care. “When Cross and your friend come back with the fuel, we’ll follow our rainbow friend here and see where she takes us.”

“We won’t have to wait that much then. Look.”

Zia nodded to the opposite street, where Diana and Cross came with the four petrol cans on their arms, laughing along to a sure stupid joke like the ones Diana likes to tell. Amanda walked over to them and curved her hands around her mouth to make her voice louder.

“Guys, rush! We’ve got a Beast to follow!”

 

* * *

 

 

“Y-your daughter?” The word came out strangled from Dirk’s mouth. “You mean as… yours and your husband’s?”

The old lady left the dishes on the table, squishing beside Farah on the chair and almost dumping her to the ground. She straightened the picture against the wood surface, trying to remove any wrinkles in the picture as his eyes dampened for the tears. Todd and Dirk shared an intrigued look as Mrs Denver removed her glasses and tossed them aside to look astonished at the image.

“How do you know of my Arianna?” She got to say in her aphonia.

“Why do you sound so surprised about it?” Farah avoided the question with her best work-voice. Sometimes it terrified Dirk of how professional she sounded.

Mrs Denver torn her eyes apart from her daughter’s picture to frown at them instead. Something inside Dirk was screaming about her, and her connection to this girl Arianna. Although he didn’t know if it was a good alarm, since the pressure in his brain was pressing strongly against his skull, and the thought of the mysterious door superposed over it with a disgusting persistence.

“No one has shown interest in her,” Her voice was a whisper, as if she was sharing some vital information, “not even the police.”

“Wait, why should they be interested on her?” Todd asked for Dirk. He was too busy trying to shut the impulses down, making them silent to pay real attention to the case.

“You don’t really know about her.” The woman squinted her eyes at them, leaning further on the table, “How did you find this picture?”

“It was sent to us to investigate it with this,” Farah slid the postcard next to the photo, showing the sloppy message on the back of it. “Or that’s what we like to think. Do you recognise this handwriting?”

She shook her head, “I’m afraid not, dear.”

Dirk couldn’t bare it anymore. The screams inside his head were practically begging him to speak now, and if he kept suffocating them instead of obeying, he’d end up with a headache that would blow his brain out.

“Mrs Denver what’s so mysterious about your daughter that made the authorities not want to engage in it?” His words came out in spurts as he felt the sirens calming down. Todd elbowed him at his side, making him reconsider the touch he was putting into the situation.

“No one believed me when I told the story.” Her eyes went to the kitchen door behind Dirk’s back, where he heard some rapid shuffling. She stood up abruptly, walking towards the room wing as she invited them with a movement of her hand, “Follow me.”

They walked the same path of their first day, and with every step they gave Dirk’s nerves started to get calmer and calmer. Their host’s attitude couldn’t be further from that though. Her head turned around every pair of doors they passed, and her hands fidgeted with the rustled key she dug out from her pocket. Her whole figure yelled alert.

“Donna doesn’t like me talking about this. She thinks I’m going to burst in tears from only trying,” Mrs Denver explained once she stopped in front of a certain room, “but no one has wanted to understand what happened to my daughter, and I’m not going to waste the only chance I got.”

Dirk’s eyes froze over the dirty golden digits that numerated the 123rd room. The lady hurriedly opened the door, letting them in with the same speed and closing it behind their backs. It was obviously more than another simple motel room, one that surely wasn’t meant for tourists. The walls were painted in a light tone of green that was incredibly far from the sick yellow that covered Dirk’s room. The bed, with some heart-shaped cushions, was unmade, as if someone had stirred on it countless times before leaving and had forgotten to tidy it again. Next to it, a long bedside table hold several small boxes that were hid under stages of papers with intrinsic designs and notes that Dirk couldn’t even begin to understand.

But what surprised the team was the amount of gears, incomplete metallic works and what Dirk couldn’t describe better than robot leftovers that covered the rest of the other surfaces in the room. You couldn’t give a step without stumbling over any artefact.

“Ari was a big fan of the mechanics,” The woman excused as Todd picked up a broken train from the floor.

“Was this her room?” Farah asked out loud while her eyes tried to read through the scribbled notes.

“Is,” She corrected. The harsh tone in her voice denoting how reluctant she was to think of her in pastime.

Dirk noticed something else was occupying the bed besides the mess of bedclothes. In the middle of the tangle of sheets and bedspreads, he spotted a shiny object attracting his look. He walked thoughtlessly towards it, taking it in between his hands. The device in question was pretty odd, nothing similar to anything Dirk has ever seen. It seemed like a box, composed by diverse metals united in what looked like those treasure chests from the pirate’s movies. But it was different from those he and Todd had seen on the films they used as backgrounds for late dinners on tired nights. Inside, a the small metal figure of a soldier stood out strangely, as in a pop-up book. Dirk almost jumped on his feet when it appeared as he tilted his head to inspection it more closely.

“Oh, that is her latest invention.” Mrs Denver showed up from behind his back. Her eyes were lovingly looking at the box in Dirk’s hands. “She spent months trying to finish that little thing, most of the lines written in those papers are dedicated to its construction.”

“I see,” He nodded, turning the box around to see all its faces. “And what is it exactly?”

“A music box,” She sounded surprised by his question, Dirk could tell by how high her eyebrows had gone. He licked his lips, clearly uncomfortable at the apparent common knowledge he lacked, and once more, he internally cursed those years of confinement.

“Right. _Pfft_ , of course, how silly of me not to see that. But… how does, that work?”

“It plays music,” Todd supplied, walking over to where Dirk was standing and rescuing him of the embarrassment in the process. “It usually has a little knob in the back that you turn to make the small figure move.”

He proceeded to show him, but once he’d given several turns to the small switch where Dirk’s hand previously was—and after granting him some electric impulses by the contact—, the sound that came out of the machine was nothing near the definition of music Dirk had. It was mere lost notes that didn’t combine at all, stumbling one over the other and giving the small soldier a creepier context than he had expected. Todd didn’t look delighted either, so Dirk assumed that wasn’t what it was supposed to do.

“Yes, I thought it was broken when she showed it to us too. But she was so happy about it I didn’t have the heart to point it out.”

Mrs Denver took the music box in her own hands, rubbing her thumb against it with such a care only a mother could have. Dirk’s heart stretched at the sight.

“She was smiling so hard at her achievement.” Her lips curled up sweetly. “For me it sounded like a broken machine, but she told Donna and I how much she’s been waiting to see it finished. And then she even told us it worked exactly as it was meant to! I couldn’t believe one word of what she said.”

Her words were interrupted by a soft giggle that matched her caring look. A growing feeling of fake nostalgia took over Dirk’s chest, yearning for something he could’ve experienced in a different timeline of reality. He found himself leaning against Todd, standing before him, in the attempt of getting a familiar touch that brought him back to his senses. He was proud to say it ended up being successful, since a light pressure responded him on the other side.

Mrs Denver’s gaze clouded as well as his features. Her lips pressed together as she carefully  placed the music box on the bedside table. The care she had towards the object, being Arianna’s latest possession, was endearing, softening Dirk around the edges.

“That same night was the last time I’ve seen her,” her voice dropped as a shadow darkened her expression.

The sound of movement on the outside made Dirk glance over at the entrance, momently distracted by what he thought were footsteps running through the cracking floor of the hallway. Meanwhile, Farah had taken action and placed a comforting hand over Mrs Denver’s shoulder, her understanding of her loss probably deeper than Dirk and Todd’s.

“You mean, before she disappeared, right?” She asked, keeping her best considerate voice. “Five days ago.”

But the lady returned a puzzled look at her, clearly stranged at her words.

“No, it was more than a week ago.”

Dirk turned back at her, straightening his back immediately as his senses stood up. Something about all this matter had his heart jumping out of its place, the possible connection of Arianna with the case growing stronger with every new bit of information he found.

“That is impossible,” Todd claimed, stopping his flickering through the metal stacks to shake her head at her. “It’s way before the other disappearances, it doesn’t make sense.”

A struggle on the door announced Donna’s entrance to the room,  whose expression twisted from worried to angered when her eyes landed on Farah’s hands, still getting hold of some of Arianna’s papers.

“What are you doing here?” She demanded with an irritated note in her voice, storming until she ripped the pages from his friend’s hands. “This is not a place for visitors to wander around.”

“Donna, stop, I brought them here. They say they’ll help!” Mrs Denver tried to calm her by holding up her hands, walking towards the other woman with a hopeful look.

“Help, what are you talking about? I thought we clarified not talking about her with anyone.”

“But I’m tired of not knowing!” The elder woman pleaded, making Donna torn her burning look apart from them. Her face visibly relaxed once they were facing each other as Mrs Denver’s eyes were silently begging her a little of understanding. “They are here to help us, they _want_ to help us. I want to know what happened to your sister, don’t you?”

“Wait, sister?” Todd interjected despite how much Farah was glaring at him. “Is she her daughter too?”

His words were ignored by Donna, who limited herself to sigh as she drew back from the woman’s grip on her shoulders.

“And you think they’re going to believe your non-sense?” She was chewing on her lower lip, wanting to believe her words but not willing to fall in another empty lie.

“We are actually very much great acquaintances with non-sense.” Dirk said matter-of-factly. “You could say we work with them, even.”

Donna glanced down at the floor, considering her options. But there wasn’t so much she could do, Dirk thought. After all, they were already there. And apparently, that was what she decided too, because letting her shoulders fall, she sat on the bed and rested her chin on one hand, looking defeated.

“Go ahead,” She shrugged, “Tell them the story. We’ll see where it goes from there.”

She crossed her legs under her body, making herself comfortable in the nest of sheets that formed beneath her. Mrs Denver couldn’t be more pleased with her answer, as a light smile pulled at her lips while her voice drifted over the room again.

“Donna and I making breakfast for the client that was coming next week. He had requested for it to be ready at his arrival, and we wanted to avoid waking up the other in case one of us fell asleep. But Ari had nothing to do, her day was over. She was in charge of the mechanic maintenance, and everything was working more than great.”

Dirk couldn’t deny that despite the apparent decadence facade of the motel, there wasn’t a single fault in its running to reproach. Seeing Arianna’s works on first hand, it was obvious she had quite the touch for it, that being proved for all the actually finished projects.

“She had showed us the music box, and I told her it would be good to rest a little bit. She didn’t want to obey me,” her mouth twitched up, “but I practically made her sleep at least six hours.”

Now the woman twisted her hands as a dishcloth from the motel’s kitchen, her face contorting in regret as she visibly fought to keep the tears inside. Dirk deducted she thought having taken part in the matter of her daughter's disappearance.

“We were just washing,” her voice turned a bit watery. “It was almost two in the morning, we were supposed to only go to sleep to wake up early and work the next day. Another normal day! But, an hour later I heard her scream. She sounded… in pain. Like she was suffering. And I went to her room, and she just kept screaming. When I opened the door, she was already gone. The room was empty.”

Dirk, who was paying extreme attention to her story, now found himself giving a step back. He didn’t really know why he did so, but the broken image she was portraying was too… sad. He didn’t have a better words to explain it, and he did have some eloquent vocabulary saved up for this occasions. Maybe it was his subconscious way of showing some respect, but deep down he knew it was something else.

“So, she escaped from the window, or someone kidnapped her?” Farah shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She had the expression on her face that meant serious business. “Did you hear another voice in the room before entering?”

“Okay, no, hear this,” Donna snorted without even an inch of humour. “It’s when the story gets nuts.”

Mrs Denver glared at her, and she threw her mother an apologetic look. Dirk thought she might have deserved it. Mrs Denver just took the glasses off her eyes, clearly tired. The lines on her face were more visible now, making the number on Dirk’s mind indicating her age go higher.

However that didn’t make the matter weigh any less. The vibrating feeling that started to touch the door of every nerve in Dirk’s body only felt more hyped up, resulting in Dirk’s impatience being bigger with every second passed without someone talking. He kept wondering what could keep the police apart from this case, being as serious as it sounded, and what could make the other daughter of this woman so beaten down to feel hopeless at any sign of help.

“Ariana did not escape,” She sighed, her tired eyes looking up to lock her gaze on Dirk’s eyes. “She vanished.”

Well, that was something.

“Vanished?” Todd lifted an incredulous eyebrow to Donna’s amusement. “As in, into the thin air?”

“I saw it,” she nodded. “When I entered her room there was this snap, and she got absorbed by it. It came out of nowhere and lasted only one second."

“Oh! This has to be the thing!” Dirk motioned at nowhere in particular, grabbing Todd’s forearm with his other hand.

“The… thing?” Donna asked from the bed, apparently confused at the enthusiasm he was showing.

“Yes, the thing!” He pointed at Todd, who kept looking all confused at his side. “You know, what we were talking about in the dining room. The interconnectedness with the other cases?”

And there’s where the light turned on inside of Todd’s head.

“Oh yes!” He followed, hitting repeatedly Dirk’s own arm. “This has to be, like, what we were looking for, it has to help us link the other cases. Whatever vanished her might have been taking the others too!”

A smile spread over Dirk’s face. Seeing Todd staring wide-eyed at him when the understanding finally fell upon him was a pure delight. No matter how intricate the road was, he always seemed to follow Dirk, even when he didn’t fully understand what was happening.

“It surely must have magic.” He gasped as he stuck a finger up, demanding attention at the same time an idea lit up inside him. “Wendimoor. Suzie Boreton could have escaped and look for revenge. We’re not even that far from Bersberg, and she could be more _evilly witchy_ than before.”

“I don’t think so,” Farah shook her head, already into the case as much as them. “Tina’s been saying things were good there, we would’ve heard it.”

“Oh,” his shoulders fell a little down. “Then… it could be aliens!”

Todd frowned at him, mouth agape before licking his lips,

“Yeah, they’re not aliens Dirk.”

“But they could be!” He insisted, pressing tighter into his arm. “They might be very… not, friendly aliens.”

“Wait, what are you even talking about?!” Donna inquired, finally standing from her sister’s bed as she confronted them.

Dirk had to admit, without a context anyone might get a little lost in their conversations. Even more if they didn’t know that was how most of their talks were like.

“The case, obviously.” Dirk let go of his assistant’s arm to face the bitter woman behind him. “The vanishing of your sister is very suspicious, Donna, and it is highly and possibly related to other cases we’ve solved before, if not similar at least.”

“But you haven’t heard the scary part yet.”

Oh bloody Hell, there was a scary part? Last time he checked it wasn’t his birthday.

“What do you mean with scary?” Farah’s head shook in confusion.

Donna just nodded in her mother’s direction, as an invitation to make her speak. Dirk’s eyes suddenly flew back to where the woman was, waiting for her words. His brain flew over thousands of possibilities that could make this case even more interesting than it already was.

"When I got to her room, right before she vanished, Ari said some words." Mrs. Denver looked tired, even more than the three of them together. "She yelled them over and over again. She said 'It's coming for me.'

Dirk felt like a bucket of cold water fell all over him. He even felt how one by one, every single hair in his body stood up. His breathing started quivering once the words, the awful words he’d seen plastered against his eyelids nights ago ringed in his ears again. Todd immediately turned at him, stretching his hand to help him some way, but Dirk jerked away before he could do it. If someone touched him, he was going to explode.

This couldn’t be happening, not right now.

“What?” It got hard to swallow as the trembling word came out of his strangled throat in the way of a whisper. The smile that had lit up his face seconds ago was now slowly falling down.

He felt Farah’s eyes checking him from the other corner, burning in his skin. Or was it something else that felt like cutting his way through Dirk’s back with such intensity?

“We don’t know what she was talking about, she just, kept repeating that until she was gone,” Their host tried to explain, as if that did anything to extinguish the crippling panic that threatened to take control of Dirk’s body.

“No,” He laughed humourlessly along with a sharp shake of his head, “No, you, you must have misheard it.”

“No,” Donna shoot him a suspicious look. “I heard that too, all three of us.”

“Then-then this is… this is bad. Catastrophically bad.” The tension ball that was hoarding in his throat now was extending to his chest, crushing with the force of an elephant his lungs until he thought the air was nothing more than an invention.

“Dirk, listen-“ Todd began, drawing closer to him.

“No, we-we can’t stay here,” he muttered. The air felt scarce, and the trembling in his hands feeling impossible to handle. He could hear the difficulty with which the air tried to get in through his nose.

“What?” Todd shared a look with Farah, looking for support. “No, we can’t leave. We have a case.”

“The case doesn’t matter Todd!” He exploded, grabbing him by the shoulders and screaming right into his face, which surely surprised the shorter man. “We are in trouble now, you are in trouble now, and… and I brought you here so, it’s on me. Like every single time.”

He let go of him to pace nervously around the room, running quivering fingers through his hair. Out of all the people in the world, it had to be him the one who got wrapped in this mess. He wasn’t even the only child of the Universe, why didn’t it pick Bart? Or the Rowdies? Or maybe one of those scaring monsters Riggins showed him through the cameras back to when he was a kid. Of course it had to be a matter of preference. Dirk had the idea of the Universe’s favouritism with him at the time of making someone suffer wandering around his mind for a while now.

But he had contributed to it too, following that stupid postcard, thinking it would save the ridiculous attempt of agency they had. Stupid Dirk, always finding a way to get in the line of fire. Somewhere between his breakdown, his eyes welled up, ending with a wet trail falling from his cheek that he nervously swept away.

He had done this. It was his fault, just as usual.

“Dirk,” Farah’s voice came to speak calmly from his back, “I need you to focus right now.”

“There is nothing to focus on!” He turned around violently, startling Farah with his sudden move, which considering her steel nerves was saying something. “You are in grave danger for whatever threat had decided to kill me this time, and I’m not going to risk that.”

“There’s nothing at risk,” Todd tried again, approaching him by the right. “Everything is fine, okay? Try to not freak out.”

“I’m not freaking out!” He was freaking out. “But we need to get the hell away from here right now and I’m not saying it again so, Farah, pick the car keys, we’re leaving.”

But instead of doing that, she settled for grabbing him by the shoulders to sit him on the bed and slapping him right in the face.

“Auch!” Dirk exclaimed.

“Farah!”

“Now listen to me,” she had a fierce look, and Dirk didn’t want to disobey that look. “You’re having an anxiety attack, so if you want to get over it you have to do what I say, am I clear?”

He nodded quickly.

“Good. Firstly, we’re staying. There’ll be no running away.”

“But the-”

“Dream, yes, we know. We…” She trailed off, carefully picking her next words. “We sort of knew this was going to happen.”

Clearly, those weren’t the best option.

“That you what?! You lied to me?!” He glanced over at Todd, who kept gaping at them, unsure of how to act.

“Well, not this. But, something like this… yeah. And, we’re well past that now.” He rushed to say, alternating his look between Farah and Dirk, without an idea of how to proceed. He decided to drop himself next to where Dirk was sitting and letting a careful hand grab his arm, slowly but steady to not alarm him. “We need you to stop running Dirk. We, and most importantly, you, have to face this. Um-whatever, this is.”

“But it feels-” He cried trying to excuse himself.

“Awful. Yeah, I know. I’m the one who listens to your constant rambles about the Universe, remember?” Todd smiled.

Dirk let a shaky breath out and nodded.

“It’s just-no matter what I do, I still have this… pressure on my chest,” He looked down at his hands, clenched into fists on his knees to stop them from shaking uncontrollably. “And I have a horrible feeling that there’s a lot of awful danger on the future. Like, certain-death danger. And I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Both of them were taken aback by his statement. He dropped his glance once more, missing how Farah had to knock Todd’s leg because he’d stayed plainly staring at him. A subtle blush covered his cheeks as he cleared his throat.

“Dirk, I know you think this is going to blow, and that whatever happened before will repeat again, but I can assure you, it won’t.”

“How can you be that sure?”  Dirk tilted his head, glooming at him as a pout formed in his lips.

“Well, because, we are us,” He half shrugged. “We fight and stand right beside you. As every time.”

“We didn’t give up when Lydia was turned into a dog,” Farah pointed out, placing a hand above one of Dirk’s. He found the contact very calming. “And now she’s alive for that.”

“We didn’t give up with Wendimoor either. Dirk, you saved an entire kingdom.”

He hesitated before imitating Farah. Dirk found that contact particularly warm.

“Whatever that comes for us, we’ll be ready. Nothing is taking you from us, or backwards. I’m not gonna let that happen. I’ll fight whatever threat wants to even attempt that, I don’t care if it’s a dragon, an alien or the fucking Universe itself. We are in this together.” Todd locked his eyes with Dirk’s, and some strength of his words might have gotten into him too. Farah cleared her throat, making Todd retrieve a little. “Um-all of us, I mean.”

“You’re right,” he recognized, feeling suddenly stronger. “We have to find this woman.”

“So, what do we do then?” Farah raised her eyebrows expectant at him with a pleased smile. “It’s your name the one in the plaque, after all.”

He stretched his back, taking a deep breath before trusting his legs again to lift his weight. Luckily they worked perfectly. When he opened his eyes again, he felt in control. Or well, as in control as he could ever be. But the fear that took over before had died out for the most part, and Farah and Todd were grinning at him, waiting for what to do.

Right by his side.

“Okay, if we’re going to do this, we’ll have to do it right, and for that, we might need a little help.” He shifted to face Farah. “We might need a lot of hands here, so it would be amazing if you could call Tina.”

“Wait, to, make her come over?” A weird smile climbed its way to her lips.

“Exactly. She and Hobbs will be very helpful right now.”

“Sure, um, I’ll go right now.”

Farah tried to fake some composure on her way to the door, but right after she opened it all of them saw how she quickened her speed to where she had left her phone. Todd snorted at this, finding her excitement fondly amusing.

“Someone was feeling impatient.”

“Yeah, well I hope you’re too Todd, cause I’ll need you to be here and look for any lead that could help us get any closer to Arianna,” he patted his best friend’s shoulder.

“Sure,” He smiled. But it didn’t last long since he narrowed his look suspiciously. “And what are you going to do?”

“Help you, of course,” Dirk mocked him, but Todd just stared at him with an eyebrow lifted up, having none of his bullshit. “But first I have to find Mona to convince her on helping us. Small inconvenience.”

Todd opened his mouth to reply but evidently decided to drop it, as he just sighed with closed eyes. When he opened them again, he was resigned.

“You know, at this point, I am not even going to argue back.”

“Lesson learned then. So,” he clasped his hands together. They were still trembling a little bit, but there was a girl lost somewhere and lots of families who missed their relatives. And Todd believed in him, just as much as Farah. He could do this. “let’s solve this case once and for all.”


	4. IV. Not a talker

The lights of the motel were the only thing preventing the darkness from swallowing everything around her. The snow made it harder for her to walk with her paper-thin trainers, freezing her feet completely. Above her head, the white halo of moonlight served as a light with the sick-yellow lamps decorating the motel’s roof. Outside, with only a poor cardigan and a scarf to prevent her from turning into an ice cube, Farah was shaking, but not exactly for the chill. It’s been a long time since Tina and her have seen each other. Her trips to Bersberg had decreased considerably since she started working as a waitress in the café at the end of the street, so their relationship has been limited to phone calls or video chats occasionally, with lots of texts in between. So as the beep of the outgoing call rang in her ear she let out a shaky sigh that rose as white fog to the clear starry night sky.

“Hi, babe! How you doing?” The sound of Tina’s voice rang in her ear. “Isn’t it a little too late for you to call?”

God, she missed her voice so much…

“Oh, you’d prefer me to call tomorrow? Cause I could hang up now,” She teased with a fake serious tone.

“No, no, no, don’t you dare. Is just you’re always about going to sleep early, doing things right. It seemed not so you.”

The background sound of loud music could mean two things. Or Tina was in a noisy party that late on a week day, which wouldn’t surprise her at all, or Hobbs and her got bored in the station and decided to cheer themselves up.

Better read as Tina decided to cheer them up.

“Yes, um, the thing is I’m not at home right now,” she scratched the base of her neck. Although Tina couldn’t see her, she started feeling a bit nervous. “We got a case.”

“Oh really? That’s awesome!” The shushing from other people confirmed Farah’s later assumption. “Bet Dirk must be bouncing on his feet.”

“Like a little puppy.”

“Did something interesting happened already?”

“Well, we got a bunch of missing people and a strange vanishing case... but it’s not important right now. How was your day?”

“Ugh, as usual: boring. Nothing really good is going on here.” She heard the sound of a door closing in the background. The sound of chattering shut down. “But I haven’t drunk anything! Like, not even a drop!”

“That’s great, I’m proud of you!”

But the words felt a little hollow as they got out of her mouth. Moments like this were the ones that crept into Farah’s mind in her weakest moments, where she wondered if whatever Tina and she had was enough. By herself, she didn’t even have to think about it. As time passed it was clearer in her mind the love she felt for her. But in Tina’s side… she wasn’t that sure. 

Sometimes, Farah felt like she deserved something better than a long-distance relationship, someone who could be by their side to celebrate her successes in a better way than just texts and empty words. Of course, they were full of meaning for her, but Farah never was the most caring person and trying to show emotion through a phone call had its difficulties. And God, Tina was so in need of someone who understood her, who took care of her, that Farah felt like a thief for taking that time from someone else when she wasn’t even  _ there _ .

Sometimes, the thought poisoned her to the point of wondering if she should be the one to give the next step.

“Yeah... but besides that things aren’t that good,” the deputy continued as she threw herself into what Farah guessed was the provisional couch, or as she was introduced to it, the secret-nap-or-blackout couch. “Hobbs and I got no work to do, and everyone is being too good-”

“You should be happy of that.”

“-and I miss you.” Her voice dropped a few tones, “Like, loads. It’s been too long since you came here.”

Farah’s lips parted, taken by surprise by her words. It wasn’t that Tina wasn’t very loving —if not, she was the most demonstrative from the two of them. But the way in which she said it, how her voice fell as she spoke, only helped to strengthen her point. It reminded her she wasn’t the one who suffered the most with this distance. Although Farah had her complications, she was busy enough with the Agency, her new work and the two idiots she had for friends to let herself be beaten down for that. Tina, on the other hand, wasn’t that lucky. Her only support there was Hobbs, and despite how good the sheriff could be to deal with Tina Tevetino, he wasn’t a superhero. 

Whether it was for a ‘Good Morning’ text or for one of their long chats, Tina was always on Farah’s notification. Her whole gallery was made of the deputy driving, ordering food, arresting someone. One time, she even called her with the excuse of needing her to make a man confess his robbery to a gas station.

“I know. I do too. Missing you, I mean.” Her whisper was low, meant only to be heard by her, but with the silence from the woods it seemed as if she had screamed it. She tried to swallow the guilty that made her throat close to say the next words, “And that’s why I think you’ll like what I’ve got to say.”

She heard a sudden shifting from the other side of the line.

“You’re coming over?” Tina asked, and Farah almost felt how her brain was working from afar.

“Something like that. But no. You see, I said I wasn’t at home because… I’m not even in Seattle.”

“What?” Farah could practically hear her frown

“We’re even closer than you think, I’m in Wyoming,” she hurried to say through the chattering of her teeth. The chilly wind was sneaking through her clothes already, and the rubbing of her hands was no help at all. “And this case is very difficult, apparently, so Dirk thought we might need help.”

“No way.”

Farah felt her cheeks hurting from all the smiling she was doing.

“He wants you and Hobbs to come and help us. If you want, of course.”

“No way! How are you even asking that, of course we want!” Tina squeaked into the phone, making Farah take it away from her ear. When she brought it in again, she heard the sound of Tina’s feet jumping against the wood floor. “This’ll be amazing! Hope we don’t get shoot this time.”

“I can’t promise anything,” she giggled.

“Oh my God, Hobbs won’t believe me when I tell him.” The smile on her face was audibly from there. “We’ll be there next morning!”

“I’ll be waiting for you.” She looked up  to the stars, little white dots greeting her back from the clear sky. For a moment, she ignored the cold that threatened to shatter her bones and the rambling coming from the phone to say, “Tina, can you see the sky from there?”

“Umm, hang a sec.” Farah heard some shifting and the curtain being opened. “Yeah… what about it?”

From her point of view, the sky was stunning. Thanks to the pretty reduced amount of lights in the small village, their shine didn’t darken the stars. From there, she could appreciate every single one of them, sparkling in complete quietness, floating in the milky trail that served as background for such an astonishing view. And the moon, full on that night, stood round in the highest place and offered her a calming wave of courage to speak again.

“I know we spend most of our time away, and, even though it might seem it doesn’t affect me, I can assure you it does. I miss you, all the time. A-and I want to spend time with you. If I could, I would do anything to make it other way.” There was a silence from the other side. She took a deep breath, and continued, “But since I can’t, I’ll tell you this. Every time you think I’m too far, look for the moon. It’s always there at night, always constant. That moon is the same I’ll be looking at every night we are away. And maybe that way you won’t feel too alone…”

At first, there was no answer. Farah even began to think she did the wrong thing, that she had been too cheesy, or too ridiculous. She was starting to think of an apology, a way to retreat her words, when Tina spoke.

“Awww,” she said. Her voice was teary. “Who’d say Farah Black could be such a softie.”

She chuckled, relief washing all over her.

“I love you.” Tina sniffed, but her smile was audible from there. “See you tomorrow.”

Farah bit her lip as she hung up, feeling the little jumps her heart was doing as she walked back to the comfort of the motel. Inside of it, in the room 123, Todd was crouched in the stack of forgotten or unfinished tech from Arianna, looking for something useful to follow as a lead. Dirk had gone minutes ago, and he still haven’t come back, that bastard. Beside him, Donna sat in complete silence while inspecting with both eyes and hands in her sister’s stuff. After Mrs Denver decided to prepare them something to eat, as they had left their food untouched in the dinning-room, her daughter decided to stay and offer some help to the team with the excuse of knowing Arianna better than them. Since then, Todd has noticed the numerous glances he’s gotten from her, always side-eyed, never accompanied with words. He was about to ask about them when a sharp edge from the  _ robo-garbage _ cut the skin of his finger.

"Shit." He took it right to his myth to make the blood go away. Donna dropped her stupid glance look and for once seemed worried. "Your sister really liked being around all this stuff, huh?"

"Yeah, she was really stoked about it. It was like her hobby."

She looked at the metal pile with a love Todd thought was more than it truly deserved. He assumed it must’ve been because of Arianna, as a living memory of her.

“You loved her a lot, didn’t you?” he asked in a burst of courage. Or stupidity. He seemed to be carried by both lately.

“You’ve got no idea.” Donna bit her lip as her mind drifted further than where she physically was. “My mother was devastated when this happened. We didn’t understand anything at all, and no one wanted to help us. They brand her as crazy and me as hysterical, without giving us a chance to explain what was going on.”

Todd imagined for a brief instant what would happen to him if Amanda disappeared like that. He banished the thought from his mind before he could cut himself again by clenching his hands so hard around the edgy metals.

“It must be horrible,” he offered as the best consolation he could thought of. Todd always hated being stuck in this sort of situations, because even though he felt the empathy necessary to comfort someone, he never could pick the appropriate words. Unlike Dirk, whose feeling could be easily read in everything he said, Todd felt like a toddler trying to speak for the first time whenever he was left alone in this area of ‘People Problems’. If Donna noticed all his inner struggle, she didn’t say a thing about it. Instead, she just absently nodded. 

“That’s why you can imagine how intrigued I was when you came here.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘intrigued’ is the right word though.” The images of Donna’s multiple death-stares flashed through Todd’s mind.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for, you know, how I treated you,” she ducked her head, clearly ashamed.

“Don’t worry, it’s okay,” he lied. “In our work we’ve found people more cra-I mean, um, impetuous, than you.”

“Really?” she asked, an eyebrow lifted with incredulity, not really noticing Todd’s almost-insult. “And what kind of work is that?”

“We are detectives. Holistic detectives. We are guided by the interconnectedness of all things, the Universe and that. Well, Dirk does. And we follow him… sort of. Dirk is much better at explaining it than me,” he apologized with a helpless shrug.

“I see… Is he like your boss or something?”

“Maybe, but I wouldn’t say that in front of him. It usually goes to his head,” Todd chuckled.

“It doesn’t sound like a reliable method, if you ask me.”

“Believe me, it doesn’t for me either.” A knowing smile climbed to his lips, remembering the whole soul-swapping cult and the creepy witches and mages. “But somehow it works, so we just roll with it.”

“Right.” She didn’t sound so convinced though. “So, if it is not much to ask, what happened earlier, um, with your friend…”

And although she hadn’t said a word, he immediately understood what she implied.

“No,” he lied again, but this time it hurt more, “it’s not that often, if that’s what you’re asking.” 

But lately it seemed as if it was. In the last couple of days Dirk’s sudden panics and anxiety had skyrocketed to concerning levels. He hasn’t seen him like that since last year, which made it even more worrying. And Todd couldn’t shake off the feeling of it being more connected with the case than with some coincidental mix of triggers. He had learned to discard the coincidences by now.

"What you did was good anyway," she looked away, speaking to him as her hands got busy in the pile of discarded robots. "What you said to him, I mean."

"Well...yeah, I am-well, his best friend. That's what I'm supposed to do, right?"

She didn't thought the same though.

"I don't know," she clicked her tongue. "Not everyone does it, knowing what to say to calm down someone else when they are in such a struggle. And most importantly," she gave him a pointed look, one that implied Todd knew what she was talking about "not everyone wants to do so."

And Todd could agree with her. For many years, that had been exactly Dirk’s situation. He couldn’t (or wanted to) imagine how hard must have been for him living that way, without a reliable support to lean on when things got hard. And even worse, he couldn’t imagine how no one offered to do so. Most of his life Todd thought he was a bad person. God, even now he had that feeling from time to time. But with his past and all, he was incapable of seeing Dirk in such state and not even try to give the detective back that eccentric and fervent personality that his fears tore down.

Dirk’s essence was unique by itself. To him, any room Dirk got into seemed to change its ambient completely. He made it interesting, lightened by a crescent curiosity and an incessant movement, that even though sometimes left him a little dazed for its intensity, it kept him awake in ways that not even the dangerous amounts of coffee he’s consumed his whole life ever did. For Todd, that’s what Dirk represented: energy. One that marveled him and tired him at the same time, but that he was always happy to come back to despite how annoying it could be. 

So seeing how his friend shrank in himself, feeling prisoner of his own terrors, was like having a wave of impotence assailing him that sometimes scared the shit out of him. Todd knew it was impossible for him to leave Dirk like that, alone, facing only with his hateful connection to the Universe the threats the world constantly casted at him. He had almost done it once, and trying again was not an option. Todd knew that for a long time no one had wanted to offer Dirk a hand to help him out, and that he had to walk that stupid path in complete solitude.

But Todd also knew it didn’t have to be that way anymore.

“Well, yeah. It’s true, I guess not everyone does that. If you asked me two years ago, even I wouldn’t have done it. But something about him is different.” Todd found himself fixing his gaze in his hand instead of Donna’s face. Letting his thought out in such delicate and important subjects wasn’t something he was good at. But even though his words had a bit of trouble coming out of his mouth, they felt light in his tongue. “Before I met him, my life sucked. I did things I’m not proud of, pushed a lot of people away, people I loved so much. But when Dirk and I met… well, I’m not going to say it was all good. We had, like, our problems. But it seemed, I don’t know… simpler? Being good, trying to be a better person. He made it all look so easy. And he made me believe it was easy. He made me want to change.”

“Looks like he helped you a lot for what you’re telling me.”

“He did.” Todd nodded. “Dirk never ran away, no matter how hard I tried to. And believe me, I tried,” Donna imitated his chuckle. “He stayed by my side and helped me to be my best version. And what is more important, he believed in me all the time, with flaws and all. He never gave up on who I was.”

He finally lifted his eyes to look at Donna, who was staring at him with a new glance, one that hid a different intention. Todd realized all he’s just said and felt himself flush a little.

“I just-think it’s only fair to do the same,” he cleared his throat. “Like, being there for him and all.”

“I understand,” she conceded with a nice smile that helped to soothe Todd’s insecurities a bit. “Dirk sounds like a great person in your words.”

“He is,” he nodded again, resuming his search in the momentarily forgotten pile of robots.

A weird smirk made its way to Donna’s lips, one that Todd didn’t like at all.

“And he is a bit cute.”

Todd felt his cheeks furiously blushing, and he hoped it wasn’t too noticeable. But for the look in Donna’s face, it certainly was.

Fuck. Him.

“Um-yeah, I-I guess you could say that. I mean, he’s kind of attractive? Maybe? I-I don’t really know how to…”

But he was cut off in the middle of his lame attempt of an answer by his recent discovering. In the middle of the scrap to which Todd could not find any sense despite how much he tried, he found a worn piece of paper that was hidden between two metal claws. As soon as he managed to get it out of there, using a little force, he noticed that it wasn’t just a simple paper. 

It was a photograph.

It was an image of the motel in its early years, with all its splendor showing off. In front of him were four people. On the left he noticed a version rejuvenated by a couple of years of Mrs. Denver. Her smile seemed to shine with happiness, framed by the fading blonde hair that fell comfortably around her face. Next to her Donna looked happy too, but less excited than her mother. Her hand was placed contentedly on Mrs. Denver’s shoulder as her calmer smile lit up her factions. And at her side, there was Arianna. It was weird, seeing her somewhat different than their picture but with an obvious resemblance that confirmed it was her indeed. Her wild hair was flying in the wind, and her eyes were big; her smile, unworried. As if the picture took her by surprise. Yet there was some quietness in her features that suited her perfectly, even more than the fierceness from the photo they got. But what surprised him the most was the presence of another person in the picture. Someone that made Todd frown deep in thought. The man standing next to Arianna wasn’t anyone Todd had seen in the village before. He was about Arianna’s age, if not a little older. His clothes weren’t exactly normal, more like a blue overall with what looked like grease stains and a grey T-shirt. He wasn’t looking at the camera either. 

He was looking at Arianna.

“Donna?” he asked after a few seconds of awkward silence. “Do you know who’s the man on the pic?”

She leaned over, leaving her sneaky smile, to imitate his frown. But hers was more confused than anything. She grabbed the picture and ran through it with her eyes.

“Yeah, he is Hector. He was the one in charge of all the fountain work on here.”

“Wait, was?” he wondered aloud.

“Mhm,” she nodded. “He is one of the missing people.”

Todd decided that didn’t make any sense. He swore he’s never seen that face before, and they went through those name’s lists almost fifty times.

“But that’s impossible, he isn’t there with the others.”

“That’s because he wasn’t reported,” she explained, handing him the picture again. “He disappeared exactly a day before you got in.”

 

* * *

 

 

If there was something he didn’t miss from having a body was sensations. Being only an ethereal representation of your subconscious in the wide emptiness that is the Universe meant not having to go through what humans suffered most of the time. But now that he was attached to a physical figure, he wasn’t that lucky.

Friedkin felt hot, his feet were crushing by the weight held against the irregular floor and his lungs weren’t exactly capable for a walk of that magnitude. Even though the bubblegum-haired prince kept saying they were getting close, he felt like he would faint of fatigue at any moment.

However, he got further than he thought he’d get. When he saw that fraction of reality that seemed detached from the real world in general, he didn’t know what to expect. And certainly, having a sword being aimed at you as a first experience was a bit startling. So he had decided to proceed carefully until he was face to face with the presumed King.

“Um, not to be impatient but, are we there yet?” he asked after almost being decapitated by a branch he’d sworn it appeared out of nowhere. His comment wasn’t very appreciated by the other man, who only gave him a dangerous look before sighing.

“You really have the mind of a child, don’t you?” 

Jeez. He needed to chill.

“Why have I been said that more than once? People do really get that impression of me?” No response. “Alright. Whatever. But how close are we-?”

He had to stop right there before the scissors he got to know before they got closer than necessary to his own neck. He was about to protest, but the entrance to a cavern answered all his questions.

His words came out as a whisper, as if he felt the situation deserved a little more discretion. The imposing figure of the cave made the small man feel small in comparison. Of course, the cold blades placed in his throat weren’t helping him a bit. “Is he there?”

The other guy brought a finger to his lips, indicating him to be quiet. Then he walked to the entrance, finally distancing his weapon from Friedkin who could breathe normally again, and cleared his throat.

“We don’t mean to unfortunate you, my King, but there is an outsider here who seeks your knowledge.” Friedkin immediately straightened his back at the mention. “May I let him speak with you?”

Now, of all the things he’s heard about the kid, added to the memory of his aged body, Friedkin was waiting for something terrible. He thought the child was going to be hideous, maybe with some features from the winged purple monster Priest had caught a year or so ago. What he wasn’t expecting was the little figure that emerged from the cave seconds ago. For his surprise, he was all clean and cute and exactly what a child should look like. He was a little disappointed about that.

“Of course. Everyone is welcomed in Wendimoor, Mr Trost.”

And with a longer-than-needed bow, the man stepped aside to let the path to project Moloch clear for Friedkin.

“Come with me, Mr Friedkin. I bet we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“Yeah-um… I guess? Only a question,” he rushed to say before the boy turned around, “how did you, you know, do… this?” Friedkin pointed at his surroundings to refer to the magic world he recently just discovered.

As his only response, the kid smiled.

“You know I can’t answer that, Hugo.”

“Ok,” he said under his breath when Francis turned to the entrance, “he knows my name, not creepy at all.”

Inside the cave, it looked better than from the outside. The stone walls covered in ivy gave to it the look of a fairy tale, majorly highlighted by the huge-ass throne in the middle of the room. The child sat on it and looked at him expectant for his next words.

Uncomfortable, Friedkin sat on the steps that led to the throne and cleared his throat before speaking. Any confidence he may have had had already vanished. 

“What brings you to my kingdom now?”

“Well, um, there’s a bit of trouble. In the outside world, y’know?” He struggled with his hands, retorting his fingers to try and calm the nervousness bubbling inside him. “There’s this very bad guy who’s in charge of Blackwing now…”

“Bart’s friend?” Francis asked with a frown.

“Yes! That one. He’s kind of a psycho, tried to kill me and all. But then I fell to this really weird hole… like the one you have there,” he pointed at the glowing pool, Francis following his finger with a clear suspicion, “so I didn’t really die. Now he’s doing some awful, incredibly stupid thing to do-”

“To break the fabric of reality?” The kid aimed his small brown eyes at him. Even if his body didn’t look older than twelve, his glance denoted the experience of someone who had lived way more. Looking into them made a chill run all the way down through Friedkin’s spine. 

Francis stood up from his throne, taking a hand to his chin as he reached the pool that rose in the corner of the room. Friedkin was tempted to follow him, but something about that small pond made him stay still in his place, unable to move an inch closer.

“Yeah, I guess you could say so,” he smiled nervously. “The Universe keeps screaming that it’s really important, and I have to be on the good side this time. I gotta do this  _ right _ .” Friedkin stood up from where he was sitting, and with all the courage he could gather, he walked the few steps that separated him from the child. He sat right next to him, letting the shine glimmering from the waters illuminate him as well. “So I figured I would need an army to fight this battle…”

But before he could finish, Francis started shaking his head. “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to do that.”

“What? C’mon, dude!” He tried by grabbing his little hands with all the care he was capable of. His words came out in spurts, “Look, I know you’re all happy and content and really comfortable here. But, it’s the world! I need to save it. There’s no place where I could find an army like here, and they’d be not expecting it! It’s perfect!”

But Francis slowly retrieved his hands, letting clear his opinion.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve put a foot in the Old World. That’s not my place anymore.” His eyes wandered in the pool, away from Friedkin’s exasperated face. “Everyone in Wendimoor is happy. In peace. I can’t break that. I hope you understand is the best for us.”

“But, but you can’t, you can’t do that! It’s billions of people what we’re talking about, you can’t just say ‘it’s not my problem’!” he accused, gesturing wildly with his hands. The air started to feel a bit charged.

But there was no way to convince him. “My answer is no, Hugo. I can’t help you with that.”

Friedkin stood up, tugging from his short hair with his hands with a tired sigh followed by a guttural growl. He turned around, facing Francis, and pointed at him with an accusatory finger.

“No,” he shook his head, “this isn’t how it goes.  _ You _ are supposed to  _ help me _ , what am I gonna to do then?” 

But the kid just stared at him, commiserating with him, feeling sorry for the man that was practically at the verge of tears right there. Defeated, Friedkin abruptly lowered his arms while throwing a curse to the air. Great was his surprise when he saw little red bolts emerging from his own skin, only to die on the stone floor right after they appeared.

“What was that?” Francis asked, but Friedkin no longer heard him. His eyes were fixed in the point where seconds before, his odd new skill came to life.

He looked then at his hand. It was normal, not different from any other hand another human man has ever had. But not any other human hand could do what he just saw.

That wasn’t strange either. Since his soul ascended into the incorporeal stage of reality, he had learned what supreme forces could do when they weren’t stopped by the simpler and more boring Universe laws. The ability to control the matter and space became quickly one of his favourites, but he had no idea if it would work once he got out of there.

As it seems, it did, and conveniently well if he was sincere. 

He remembered the unlimited time that took him to control these powers, not really knowing if it had been hours, days or years that passed by. It’d been arduous, but not in vain. So when he finished inspecting his hands as if they belonged to a stranger’s body, he sent a firm look in the kid’s direction.

“Alright,” he nodded. “You don’t want to help me, that’s fine. I’m going to do this my way.”

When Panto saw the red light coming out of the cave and his ears captured the Boy’s yells for help, he knew it had been a bad idea letting that foreign man come into their land.

 

* * *

 

 

If there was something worse than having a boss who didn’t know what he was doing, it was having someone ordering you that not only knew what their actual job was like, but also expected everyone else to do the same and immediately. That last bit was somewhat difficult for Michael. Covered up in files and archives, he made way for him through Blackwing corridors muttering varying apologies in his course to Supervisor Adam’s office. He had lost count of how many times he’s gotten him by surprise asking for his presence through the intercom, and not to mention all of those in which he had to swallow down his nervousness to keep his job and not seem like an idiot.

Once the doors were opened, he found Ken Adams in the same position of every day: scowling, eyes dug in his computer’s monitor, analysing whatever information was in there. This time, it was a series of documents that the Lieutenant could bet contained data about the projects. Specially about Marzanna. He seemed to be a lot interested in her.

Michael had heard time back that the new Supervisor had been friends with Marzanna, that that was how they’d get him. But in spite of that, his interest didn’t look friendly at all. If not, it bordered more on a gross disgustingness than a genuine nostalgia. If that was how Mr. Adams treated his friends, he didn’t want ot o imagine what he’d do with his enemies.

“Um, Sir?” He called clearing his throat, earning a look that surely left a hole in his skull in the process. “You called me, right?”

“What took you so long, Lieutenant?” he asked back, crossing his arms over his chest.

Damn, he almost missed Friedkin. At least with him he felt a bit more efficient. Now, he looked like the biggest dumbass from the building.

“Um, something just-it was, a little too sudden.” He tried making himself a more respectable figure under the severe look of his superior. “I wasn’t expecting your call.”

“I’m getting tired of saying a good officer should be ready at any moment in case of an alarm. Don’t you think, Assistent?” The ways his surname rolled off his tongue, so cold and as if it was a threat, gave Michael a sharp chill down his spine. “But setting your incompetence aside, did you bring what I asked for?”

“Yes! Yes, I have them here.” He extended the multiple folders over the desk, proud of having accomplished his task. Ken looked at them with a straight face, but the glimmer in his eyes gave him away. They hid greed, a desire that showed how the moment Michael stepped out of the room, he would launch himself at the documents. And since his curiosity was bigger than his common sense, he couldn’t help but ask. “Why do you need them, sir?”

The Supervisor seemed to doubt for a second, weighing his options while his eyes kept scrutinizing Assistent’s face. However, at some point he decided to share his thoughts, because the next thing he did was closing the door at Michael’s back and walk with extreme precaution to where he was standing.

“Mr. Asistent, how much do you know about the projects?”

He was now at a dangerous distance, putting a strong arm around his shoulders and gripping his shoulder firmly. If anyone walked in right now, they would have to give too many explanations. 

The tone in his question was already too ominous, but it was nothing compared to the one in his voice that without a doubt hinted that whatever the plan was, it counted with all the reasons to be classified. 

“Um, not too much,” he laughed nervously. Ken kept staring at him, a pointed eyebrow still raised in his forehead. “They’re important for science. They should be… found? Tested?” It had sounded more like a question that an answer, his words mirroring his superior’s.

Ken looked pleased anyway.

“You see Lieutenant, there’s existed a constant mistake in this facility, one that was carried through years since its foundations. Through all Blackwing’s managements, the objective remained the same: testing the projects. But, they never sat to talk with them.”

“But Riggins…” Michael started, remembering the old man’s confusing yet fond feelings with the subjects.

Ken didn’t let him finish though, lifting a hand to stop his words. “Riggins was a failed attempt. He heard, but never  _ listened _ .”

He sat back at his desk again, finally letting Michael breathe normally. One of the folders ended up in his hands, and Ken took a look at it as Assistent sat beside him, trying to figure out what all those words Ken was so sure about meant and that he didn't get at all.

“And what can you get from listening to them? Isn’t that wasting time in empty pleas?”

Only once had Michael been in front of a project, and that had been when Project Icarus ordered him to take him to Project Moloch, finding Project Lamia in their way. Did that count as a single experience despite it having two projects? Or could he say his field of expertise was wider than he initially thought?

Whatever the answer was, Ken still looked content with his other questions. Perhaps being the one behind every action executed in Blackwing had a certain weight. It made him wonder if Ken didn’t have an assistant that heard all his brilliant plans, because the emotion in his face when he got to open with him and talk about his ideas was clear, despite how much he tried to hide it.

“You wouldn’t believe how easy is to get information from them once they think you’re reliable. Most of it is pure bullshit, but there are some, Lieutenant, that didn’t take long to tell me more things than the trillion of tests ever did.”

“Like what?” he asked. He’d be lying if he said curiosity wasn’t itching inside him right now.

Ken leaned closer to him, and although they were the only ones in the room, his voice became a light whisper that made all the hairs in the nape of his neck stand out one by one.

"You know how they talk about the Universe. How much he needs them. I can say with certainty that this part is real, what we have here, were not anomalies left to their own fate. They _ do _ have a purpose. A reason to be that we can exploit for our benefit. But that is not all. This kind of people, they work ... in pairs. As packages that the Universe creates to be able to enhance their abilities. "

“And what does that have to do with Marzanna?”

“Everything, Assitent. Everything. If we put Marzanna with her pair, her little tricks are going to be stronger, better than what your injections can only dream about.” Then he smiled, sure, like someone who knows he already has a game won and is waiting to unveil his move. "And with a little help from us, I suspect that communicating with the old Cosmos won’t be so difficult."

"And that's why he asked me for the records of ...?"

"Exactly, we're getting along." With a resolute movement, he turned his chair towards the papers, without giving him another look. "Go tell the guards to prepare for a transfer. It's time for Project Banshee to make a couple of new friends. "

 

The metal doors opened with a click, and the guards were visibly relieved to throw Project Marzanna in there. Bart conceded them a dirty look once the lights went on around her. This room was different from hers. It didn’t have the rainy box, with lots of ‘hair products’ and other non-edible things, or the mysterious TV with billions of channels Ken granted her. Blackwing didn’t like this project too much, she thought. But to be fair, Bart’s own previous room wasn’t like this one either—this room had a mirror on the door, at least—so they mustn’t be that dangerous. She was starting to wonder how ‘they’ would be when her eyes found a tangled mess of quivering limbs on the floor near the corner.

“Hey,” she greeted with her most friendly face. Or at least she tried to. “So, you live here, huh?”

The savage nest of curls that covered the person’s head moved to reveal a pale and freckled face. In her right cheek, she saw an old scar scored from the bottom of her neck to the side of her nose. Her look was fixed in Bart, a look that…

Huh.

She was scared.

“Um, I dunno if you know why I’m here.” Again, no answer. Bart was starting to feel uncomfortable too. The atmosphere from the room, all quiet and calm where every sound was ten times stronger, wasn’t helping at all.

She decided that standing there without doing anything seemed rude. Ken had told her she needed to be friends with this woman, so being rude was not an option. She thought about the bed, but her new company was on the floor, so Bart didn’t take it as a good sign. Maybe the bed was covered in bugs, one never knows. Instead, she decided to sit right in front of her, cross-legged, and offer her her best smile. Through the entire process the other woman remained silent, just throwing cautious looks in Bart’s direction with wide and dark eyes.

Bart frowned. “Not a talker, huh?”

“Why did they send you?” Oh, she could speak. And her voice was nice. A little shaky, maybe, but nice after all. “Why are you here?”

“Do you know Ken?” Bart smiled, “Ken Adams?”

The woman gulped at his mention, and she might have winced a little too, but Bart couldn’t imagine why. Her round face contorted into a disgust expression when she spoke again, “The Supervisor?”

“Yeah, he’s kind of my friend and-”

She was interrupted by the other project’s sudden reaction. Just as if Bart had a terribly infectious illness, she threw herself against the wall. At first Bart thought she’d done something to upset her, which was weird, she’s barely said a few words. But it didn’t take too long to figure out that she wasn’t mad, just completely terrified.

Her eyes looked around out of control, as a deer trapped and about to be shot. Her body was trying to find an exit from the physical cage she found herself, between Bart and the wall. Her voice trembled as she sobbed.

“Oh my God they brought you to kill me, please don’t do it! I swear I will cooperate, this time I’ll do, I promise!” she cried, her eyes so welled-up Bart would bet she couldn’t see a thing. “I-I just need more time, just more-!”

“Wait, what? Kill you?” The woman stopped her whining and looked at her with shaky lips. “I’m not gonna do that!”

“What?” She looked disconcerted about her not wanting to hurt her. 

“I’m not killing you. I’m just another project.”

The woman blinked, clearly puzzled.

“Then, are you, here, for a test? Is that it?”

“Test? Wha-no, I don’t do tests.” She sat next to her, back against the wall, and looked up at the ceiling, focusing on the little notches on the concrete. At her side, the still perplexed woman hasn’t looked away yet.

“You don’t do… but, you said you were a project.”

“Well, test don’t work on me. They’re useless, pointless.” Bart lowered her glance until their eyes connected. “Why were you so scared, anyway. I wasn’t planning on attacking you.”

The woman frowned. “They haven’t told you who I was, have they? What I do? Anything?”

Her voice was pretty still, considering her recent breakdown. Some tears still rolled down her cheeks, but her whole expression had turned from a desperate ask for help to a silent confusion. Bart, oblivious to what could a tiny and frightened person like her could hide, just shrugged, letting her talk.

“I am…” She took a stray of hair away from her face, looking down at her own palms. “I kind of… kill, people.”

“How?” Bart frowned, immediately interested in her abilities.

She took her time to answer, regulating carefully every word that left her mouth. She looked a little restrained, as if there were several ropes tying her from speaking freely, ropes that she secured by herself.

“Every time I enter a room, people die. Or, are about to die, and sometimes… they’re already dead. I don’t kill them but, it’s like only from being there, they’re doomed. As if I was some sort of… holistic Death.”

She never looked up, not even once. Her glare was fixed in her open palms, still trembling a little from where they were placed carefully. So Bart almost jumped when, all at once, she broke that visual contact to clench her hands into fists and look directly at Bart’s eyes.

“So maybe that’s why you’re here.” She looked ashamed. “To die.”

“I don’t think so,” she shook her head. “The Universe doesn’t want me dead, not yet. But I understand how you feel. I even think we would get on very well.”

“Why? Are you a holistic corpse or something?”

“Last time I checked I wasn’t,” she frowned, “but I kill people too.” Once Bart saw the wide eyes and the quickening breathing she reached her hand to grab the woman’s shoulder. “But not good people, only bad. And, and when I don’t do that, good people die. I’m, a holistic assassin. Just a weapon.”

Images of piled bodies covered in blood flashed through her mind, the livid footage of those knights falling, one by one, because of her. Dying, because of her. But whatever bad first impression she could have caused, her new companion didn’t seem to care. Without any other words, she just sat a little closer and ran a hand up and down her bare arm. The understanding between them was implicit. A wave of sympathy flown between these two women who shared the same destiny. Both knew what was like being constantly surrounded by a death aura, one that knocked off every person that has ever crossed your path, and that took a tiny bit of yourself with them too.

“I’m Tessa,” she said, breaking with the bubble of comfortable silence that had formed around them. “What’s your name?”

“Bart.” She couldn’t hide the small smile that slid past her lips. And apparently Tessa neither.

“So, Bart, why do you think they brought you here?”

“Oh, they wanted us to be friends,” she nodded.

“Who?” her eyebrows joined in her forehead. Apparently, she had forgotten about that part. 

“Ken, the guy I told you before?”

“Oh, it was him?” She looked uneasy with the thought though. “Do you know why?”

“I’ve got no idea.” 

She wanted to say more, she really did. Tessa had finally started talking to her like a normal person. She even told Bart her name! But now she had a frown on her face again, and Bart didn’t want to go back to the yelling and the crying.

“You know, I had a friend before.” Bart leaned in her knee, resting her chin on her hand. Tessa looked interested now, that was good. “His name was Panto, and he was a Wendimoor farmer.”

“A farmer?” she questioned. Her lips quirked up at the corners in what Bart took as the shyest smile she’s ever seen. “From where?”

“Wendimoor. It’s a magic land, and there’s a magic kingdom. In fact, Panto’s boyfriend was a prince in there.”

“Really?” A giggle snuck between Tessa’s fingers that tried to suffocate it.

“Yeah, but their parents didn’t want them to be together. They had to be a secret.,” she whispered, as if they could hear her from there.

“It sounds pretty much like Romeo and Juliet to me.”

“Who are those?” 

Bart didn’t remember any Romeo and Juliet from the last time she was around there.

“They’re…” Tessa began, but immediately dismissed her words with a wave of the hand. “Forget it, tell me more about that friend of yours and his boyfriend the prince.”

She was fully leaning against her, ready to listen to Bart’s story with all her attention. That made her smile widely, and without waiting, she started to tell exactly what Panto had told her a year ago in those tiny cells from the dusty town.

“Well, he was Silas, and his mother was an orc…”

 

* * *

 

Todd had many traits that Amanda despised. Having grown up with him, she could say she had a degree in that subject. The ever-going list would take entire days for her to go on and on. But there were a few that she despised the most.

Todd was a horrible morning person, and anyone a metre near him before a proper breakfast could agree with her on that. If he was in a grumpy mood, which was most of the time, there were high probabilities he’d bite you for looking in the wrong way. Whenever some poor and unfortunate soul made the (terrible) decision of saying Coldplay was much better than Foo Fighters, he could get into an exhausting, two-hours-long argument about how society had lost its good taste. He’d also lied to her for years, wasted all their parents’ money and only tried to fix it all when she got ill, which was a very shitty move, to be honest.

But the worst of all, is that he  _ never _ answered the phone.

“Hey Todd, how you doing?” she greeted the voice mail. She rolled her eyes, acquainted with his lack of attention as she brought a finger to her ear, blocking the sound of the Rowdies’ bickering. “Um, I’ve got a lot to tell you  _ but _ ,” she dragged the last word, “you’ll probably want to hear this and ask too many questions about it so, call me, asshole.”

The boys laughed as she clicked the ending call button. 

“He didn’t answer, right?” Vogel threw himself in the free place next to Amanda, wide eyes clearly questioning.

“Todd boy must be very busy with the Brit guy,” Martin laughed from the driver seat.

“As I said, he’s an idiot.” The guys cheered for that, clearly agreeing. 

“Guy’s like a zombie,” Cross said, “there’s no brain up there,” and then made a fairly realistic impression of that creature that Amanda found completely amusing.

“It doesn’t matter,” she laughed, “You know, family is always shit.”

The screeching of the wheels awkwardly sunk the van in silence. They almost hit a lamppost in their diversion, and the honk that followed right after announced the girls in the car behind them had the same luck. As they settled back in their places, making sure no one got hurt, Amanda felt something was out of place. She was so used to the constant noise that quietness felt surreal. From the wheel, Martin broke the already uncomfortable atmosphere.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Drummer.” He spoke more serious than she’s ever heard him while addressing her. “There are very bad people out there doing worse things than your brother not returning your calls.”

Amanda lifted an eyebrow at this. She wasn’t being serious, not really. Like, Todd’s always been sort of… not the perfect brother. But she couldn’t say he was a complete piece of shit. Ok, maybe just a bit, but not 100%. In front of her, both Cross and Gripps had settled for avoiding her look. Instead, they were pretty busy with a quiet conversation on their own.

Weird.

Beast just poked her head back inside from the window and looked at everyone from the front seat, frown all set with confusion at why they slowed down.

“No more window?” she pouted at the guys.

Vogel seemed to be the one willing to still pay attention to her. Three times he’d tried to talk, without really saying a word, before Amanda spoke first.

“What’s his problem?” she whispered, wishing they couldn’t hear her over the music Martin had turned up. “It was just a joke.”

Vogel looked uneasy, unsure if he should answer or not. He was weighing his thoughts, deciding whether to talk or not. Cross and Gripps had switched to shout jokingly at each other, so the silence among Amanda and the youngest of the Rowdies created a fort apart from the rest of the van.

“Family is a bad subject, boss.” His voice was drained from any cheerful tone she was used to hear on him, and if that didn’t work for startling her, then the meaning of his words did.

“It was, Martin’s family?” She cast a glance at the oldest of her friends, landing her eyes on his tense back. “Were they bad?”

But she didn’t get much of an answer from that, as Vogel only shrugged.

“Well… we don’t like talking about that stuff,” he grimaced while fidgeting with the zipper in his jacket.

“So, you know nothing about his family?”

He shook his head. “Bad memories.”

For the time they’ve spent together and the closeness they have achieved in said time Amanda noticed they rarely talked about their pasts. Being honest, she never thought it would be necessary. Part of her running away with them was exactly leaving that part of herself behind, with the shaky Amanda that couldn’t even go out of her house without being scared. Because of them, she was strong now. She felt safe. But it had never occurred to her that it meant not knowing anything about her new family’s past either.

She looked back at Vogel, who kept avoiding her glance but didn’t join the guys in their games either. He also avoided Beast’s tug at his jacket, intently asking for a game. Despite the love she had for Todd, the love that was still trying to heal fully, Amanda loved Vogel like a brother. He had gone through so much with her, and from all the Rowdies, he was the one closer to her age. And yet, she knew nothing about his life before she appeared except by the few stories from past adventures.

She didn’t know if his family was good. Damn, she didn’t even know if they were  _ alive _ .

“Vogel,” he lifted his look back, “what about your family?”

And the way his face lit up melted Amanda’s heart. His smile reappeared, as bright as the lights of the van signaling the way ahead of them. 

“They were great!” he smiled. Vogel’s face shone more and more with every word he said, “Mom made delicious sandwiches of peanut butter and jelly. She made them every afternoon for me and dad. And he was awesome too! He, he was the best. We played every day with this,” he nodded enthusiastically at the bat tightly wrapped in his extended arms, “and he threw me balls, and I, I smashed them with my bat! Sent them far, far away! I even played with other guys! We beat tons of balls in the field!”

It didn’t go unnoticed by her how now Gripps and Cross were paying attention at them too. She even thought that Martin turned the radio down to listen to them. But reaching that point of his story, Vogel’s eyes darkened, and his smile was replaced by a sad frown.

“But, they didn’t want me.”

“That’s, hard to believe, Vogel. Sounds like they loved you so-”

But a shake from his head made her shut her mouth.  “They didn’t. You didn’t see their eyes, boss. They were, scared. Of me! And they were angry, so... I ran away.”

Amanda thought that was highly improbable, but judging by how the other Rowdies turned awkwardly from them, it must have some truth. The thing was, it  _ couldn’t _ . How could anyone get angry with Vogel? How could someone not love him?

She could only imagine a younger version of her friend, maybe with his baseball suit still on, looking with two small eyes opened wide at a pair of adults yelling at him. No, it didn’t sound logic. Not if that kid was the same man sitting in front of her, with his eyes cast down.

Amanda placed a gentle hand in his shoulder, the young Rowdy reacting immediately by looking up at her. “I don’t know what happened with them, Vogel, but, you’re no person to be scared of.”

“But I am scary!” he argued.

“Well-yes, you are scary. But in a good way,” she explained. Now he looked more content. “No one should get angry at you. And if they did, fuck them. We are your family now. And we’ll beat lots of things together.”

The grin that spread in Vogel’s face made her smile as well.

But then the van stopped. She threw a curious glance at the driver, who did nothing else but point to the rainbow-haired girl beside him.

“Beast told me to do so, and she’s doing the map thing now.”

And it appeared to be true, because as soon as the van stopped moving she opened the passenger’s door and ran to the middle of the street. When everyone got off, she was simply sat in the asphalt narrowing her eyes at the distance.

“Why do we stop?” Diana asked from behind them. Amanda heard the doors of the Honda Civic opening so the girls could come with them.

“Beast wanted to stop,” Cross answered. “She might be having some clue.”

But, as Amanda discovered from walking over to the Wendimoor girl, she looked as clueless as the rest.

“Um, Beast?” Amanda tried to sit down next to her, but a hiss from her stopped her course of action. She settled for crouching close to her instead. “What happened?”

“No trace,” she grunted.

Amanda blinked once. And then twice. What did she mean with “no trace”?

“How’s that you’ve got no trace? Can’t you find him? Her. Them?” 

Beast shook her head so hard she might have dislocated her neck as well. 

“No sign.”

Amanda tried to keep the groan inside and went for standing up as she sighed deeply.

“If this isn’t convenient,” she chuckled at herself with bitter humour. She was pathless, in the middle of a road, with nowhere to lead. 

Totally pathetic.

“Is everything okay?” Zia inquired, quickly appearing at her side. Amanda almost jumped by her sudden presence. She had to ask her if she could teleport as well as reading minds sometime.

“Um, I wouldn’t say so,” she scratched the back of her head. “Beast lost the trace and we have no idea where to go now.”

She didn’t take it well.

“What do you mean that we don’t have a trace? Have we been following her for lots of miles for nothing? Haven’t you said she had the ultimate truth or something?”

“Wow, wow, wow, wait a second,” she chuckled. The threatening tone of Zia’s voice didn’t sit well in her stomach. “If I remember well, and I always do, it was  _ your  _ friend,” she jabbed her shoulder with her finger, “the one who suggested following her. Besides, we don’t even know how lost we are. This person could be around the corner for all we know.”

“Well I don’t see anyone coming at us right now,” she replied, obviously irritated.

“Oh sorry, your kind of people don’t usually wear a neon sign saying ‘I Am Holistic’, do they?”

But before literal sparks could alight from their looks, a blonde small figure stepped between them.

“Ok, stop right there you two,” Astrid separated them a few inches with her hands. “There must be another way to find these guys. Isn’t it?”

“I don’t know, ask the witch.”

“ZIa, I said stop,” Astrid glared at her. They had a silent argument with their looks that somehow resulted in Zia sighing and looking away. Then, Astrid turned to smile politely at her. “Amanda?”

Ok, she liked her now.

“I mean, I can’t have a vision now. I took my pills like an hour ago. We must have to wait until the evening.”

Astrid’s shoulders fell, and Amanda felt bad for not being able to do more. But in the silence, Vogel started to bounce in his feet while he raised a finger.

“We can try to scare you, like we did with the boys back then.”

“But, that won’t work,” she bit her lower lip in thought. “I am used to your scariness, and unless you have a train near here, I don’t know…”

She caught how Zia and Diana shared a look. Amanda didn’t like that look.

“I think I can help you with that,” the brunette said.

The next thing she now was that her back was pinned against a big green trash can as sat in the pavement, with Diana standing a few feet from her. With knives in her hands.

“Last words before we begin?” she asked with a playful smile.

“Try not to miss.”

The smirk that followed her words did nothing to soothe her well-hidden nerves.

“Don’t worry, I never miss.”

The first knife seemed to go straight to her face. Amanda closed instinctively and grimaced wrinkling her nose. She could practically hear the ‘swoomph’ that marked the knife’s trajectory as it dug right next to her ear.

When she opened her eyes, everyone looked expectant at her.

“Nothing.” They booed. 

“Get a little closer this time,” Zia suggested, and Diana nodded.

“I hope you’re not enjoying this too much,” she narrowed her eyes from her place.

“Only a bit.”

The second knife took her by surprise, taking a screech out of her. Everyone cheered this time, thinking the work was done, but no psychedelic lights or crazy omens for the future came into view. She shook her head, letting the crowd’s enthusiasm die.

“Why isn’t it working?” Gripps asked.

“Maybe she’s not putting enough effort into it.” The glare Diana threw at Cross almost gave her Amanda the chills. 

“I’m doing the best I can,” she barked, and Amanda thought that emotion could be useful for the situation.

“The best you can? With that aim I'm surprised you even take people down,” she teased. The reaction was the expected. Diana took impulse with a look that could move crowds if she tried enough.

This time, Amanda didn’t see the knife. Everyone cheered back, maybe even applauded, she wasn’t sure. Her mind was too busy trying to process the fact that there was a knife dug in her forehead. A trembling hand raised to take the knife out as a thread of blood fell down the point of her nose. At some point she lost the ability to breath, but even without air, she was able to yell. It was then when the boys surrounded her, grabbing her by the arms and taking her to the middle of the street. In their way she saw how the knife she left on the floor had disappeared and another one materialized a few inches above where her head was.

When she touched the floor again, the pain already feeling too much, she could see the heads of her friends above her. Amanda was pretty sure she looked like a shaky mess, but the pain in her head told her it didn’t matter. The rising of her heartbeat increased as the blue light around her started to take that pain away.

Finally, she would  _ see _ .

When she saw a glimpse of a vision coming to her, she fell. Not physically, of course. But it felt as if she did, because seconds later, her ass stomped against a void of nothing. Amanda stood confused, glancing up at the mass of blue threads connecting and retorting against each other, moving all on their own with each other. It was like having galaxies above her head. She didn’t understand. She hadn’t done that, not after being so close to a lead.

And suddenly, another force tugged from her. It was like a hook nailed in her subconscious that fought against the echoes of the pain that was trying to bring her back to reality.

Of course, how could it be different? It was the fucking Universe.

“Oh what now?” she demanded, screaming at the lot of nothing that was around her. Something buzzed in her mind. “Um, I don’t you noticed but, I literally can’t understand a shit about you’re trying to tell me! I just- dude, let me go back! I need to go back!”

But there was no way to make the buzzing stop. It only grew stronger and stronger, and with the remains of pain calling her from the real world, she couldn’t focus. Not in the visions, nor in the Universe.

Outside of that plane of reality, the body of Amanda kept shaking as she grunted indistinctly. Martin noticed that she tried to talk, but it was clear that she couldn’t. Even her energy tasted awfully bad. The boys noticed too and looked at him for reference.

“Drummer? Is all good?” 

“Everything ok?” The other girls had stayed away from them, kind of scared of interrupting the process, but seeing how long it was taking, Zia walked slowly to where they were.

“Something’s wrong with her.”

Martin was about to break the action when he heard the words that snuck between Amanda’s groans.

“It… it has me,” she tried painfully to explain. “I-I can’t see.”

“What’s she talking about?” Diana popped up over Zia’s shoulder.

“The Universe,” she cried. Actual tears appeared in sight. “It’s stronger.”

“What are we going to do?” The youngest girl joined the conversation. “I mean, there’s something, we can do?”

“Should we stop, Martin?” Gripps asked. “We could be hurting her.”

“No.” Zia looked strictly at Amanda trembling in the ground. “Open the circle, we will help.”

He didn’t trust them, but seeing that there was no alternative, they did as they were told. 

In her head, Amanda was seconds away from seeing the stars. Well, not really. But she was surely about to faint. The two forces of her attack and the Universe were atear to torn her mind to pieces.

“Could you just stop?” she yelled at the nothingness around her. “I need to come back. I _ have _ to come back!”

The headache she was going to have after all that buzzing was going to hurt really bad.

“Fuck, I don’t get what you’re saying, man!” She wanted to throw something at the Universe. Something extremely heavy. “I just  _ don’t _ .”

She fell to her knees, feeling like giving up when-

Oh.

Something was different.

If someone asked her later, she wouldn’t know how to explain it, but it was as if, somehow, additional arms grabbed her brain and helped it to stand up. Suddenly, the weight on her mind wasn’t that strong.

In that moment, she could feel her body again. She saw her hands, trembling in her chest, and project Valkyrie standing in triangle formation ahead of her.

And then, everything blacked out.

_ The statue of a woman appeared in her vision, moving slightly as if it was animated. She could hear screaming as a man with a scar crossing his face laughed maniacally. Bolts of lightning coupled to the image.  _

_ A weird creature appeared as if in a kaleidoscope. It was blue, with threads of his own skin floating like if it was underwater, and two eyes similar to the ones of a snail stared angrily at her. The image of a slightly dirty white button down shirt appeared soaked in blood, matching with a blue tie with the pattern of some cactuses. She thought hearing Todd’s voice calling for someone. He was desperate. _

_ And then, she saw two eyes blinking open, covered with some glasses. Two green eyes, like the colour of the leaves, looked back at her, and winked. _

Amanda sat with her back fully straight, panting heavily. Soon, Cross and Martin were next to her, helping her to stand up. Gripps and Vogel seemed to be helping the other girls who where a little short of breath.

“So?” Gripps prompted. “Anything useful?”

She looked at his hopeful eyes and smirked.

“Oh yeah,” she nodded. “And It’s this way.”

WIth all the strength she could gather she straightened herself and started to run. At first she heard them yelling her name, telling her to go back. But it wasn’t long after other seven pairs of footsteps followed her behind. 

She felt her lungs burning, her body asking her for a rest after the extreme experience she had gone through previously. But it was close, and she could feel it this time. She could almost see the beeline that marked her way to where they needed to be.

With all the rest of her energies and with all the alarms blaring out in her mind, she never felt so like a leaf in the stream of creating than now.

Once they turned in the next street, she saw him. A man was sat against the glass of a launderette, bopping his head to the tune he was playing in his guitar. His clothes were a little ragged, and his long hair matched the lengthy beard hanging from his face. As he caught their sight, his eyes, covered with small glasses, opened wide to reveal their nature like green.

Amanda practically beamed.

“You,” she panted. “You’re the one we’re looking for.”


	5. V. I did like Roman history

Pueblo was a peaceful town at night, Amanda discovered. The square they had chosen to settle down was quite isolated, if not deprived of people. If it weren’t for them and the crackling fire they had settled, there would be no sounds in the chill air of the city.

She had to admit, they wouldn’t have found the place if it wasn’t for their newest addition to the pack.

His name, as Amanda found out after her well-deserved nap, was Dusk Starkey. He was around his forty-something’s, for what she could tell, and was a former fireman. But after Blackwing sucked the life out of him, he only had a guitar he never knew how ended up in his hands and a hippie lifestyle that Amanda was completely not jealous about.

Sat across the fire, she could see how he was connecting with Cross and Gripps as Martin silently watched them over from the van’s hood where he was leaning on. Diana was teaching Vogel how to do the ‘knife-throwing thing’, as he had called it, and Astrid was talking with Zia while trying to braid Beast’s hair.

She saw the younger of the Valkyries (name that she would say out loud more often, now that she realized how cool it sounded) tilting her head to where she was sitting with an expectant look at her older friend. Zia turned around to glance at her, to which Amanda responded with a short wave of the hand. She rolled her eyes at the gesture, said one last thing to Astrid and walked over to where Amanda was trembling.

“You still shaking?” she asked once the distance was enough for her to hear her with no problems. “I thought the guys had taken all of it after finding Dusk.”

“You mean when I passed out on the street? Yeah, funny times,” she nodded. “I’m fine, just a bit cold.”

“You are in front of the bonfire,” she pointed at the fire before sitting. “And there’s an actual blanket on your shoulders.”

“Oh, this?” Amanda tugged from the Goofy blanket that Gripps had so gently wrapped her in. “Well, not really doing the job. It’s a little bit old. But, well, I guess I can do a magic trick to keep me warm,” she joked.

Zia lowered her head, taking notice of where she was aiming at. She had untied her ponytail, and now her irregularly-cut red hair fell directly in her shoulders. It covered half of her face and Amanda would fight anyone to say it was a shame only because she couldn’t see her embarrassed expression. No alternative.

“I’m sorry about what I said. You know, earlier, with the… witch thing.”

Amanda hummed in response. “Yeah, it was a shitty thing to say.”

“It’s only that, we’ve always had each other and no one else. Working as a team with someone you’re not connected feels,” she shrugged, “weird.”

“Well, a good friend of mine insists that everything is connected. And although he’s not someone I’d follow blindly I like to think he’s right with that one.”

“Maybe.” 

Zia kept her eyes fixed in the fire, not even daring to look at Amanda. But her silence was expectant, as if she was the one who should receive an apology now. Amanda groaned as she threw her head back.

“Okay, yes, I might have been sort of wrong yelling at you too… almost,” she clarified, earning a smirk from her.

“I’ll take it. I don’t think you’re able to do more than that.”

“Hey!” Amanda exclaimed pushing her with her shoulder. 

They giggled until the laugh died, leaving a comfortable silence instead. Everything seemed so where it should be that Amanda was sure if she had the same power Dirk had, the Universe would agree with her. 

And that reminded her about the vision. Of all the people she knew, he was the only one to pull out a tie like the one she saw. Although the amount of blood that was there was something she’d prefer not to think about. And the tone in Todd’s voice… It hadn’t sounded a bit nice. Them being there meant that their futures were still tied, which Amanda sort of expected, but if that future involved a funeral…

“Oh, about the whole… attack and stuff,” Amanda frowned, turning her body so she could face Zia better, catching her attention. “Am I right to assume you were the ones helping me back there?”

“In the shiny place?” She lifted an eyebrow, and her look impregnated in curiosity. “Yeah. Don’t get me wrong but… that was strange.”

“Pretty much my everyday life,” she patted her shoulder. “Welcome to my world.”

But she wasn’t smiling.

“I didn’t like what I saw there.” Her eyes went to where Diana and Astrid laughed gleefully at Vogel’s attempts to shoot a soup can. “And I’m pretty sure they didn’t either.”

“Did you understand anything of what happened there?” 

Amanda was genuinely curious now.Anyway, she didn’t understand her visions at all times. They weren’t always as clear as they should be. But in this case, the images that she saw either only made sense to her or they didn’t mean anything at all. Zia, however, had apparently found something else in there, something deserving to worry about.

“That man. The one with the-” she traced a line with her finger from her forehead to her chin, “-scar. He is from Blackwing.”

Oh. She wasn’t expecting that.

“Did you know him?” 

The air felt a bit cooler on her skin now, making Amanda wrap herself tighter with the blanket. Zia looked uneasy and slightly paler than before, not even similar to her composed self that looked like she could bite your finger off if she wanted to. That couldn’t be good at all.

“If I knew him? Of course I do. I think every person ever caught by Blackwing know who that man is.” She hugged herself, running her hands up and down her arms to seek some comfort. “He was in charge of the tests. Or, well, he was in charge of seeing us when the tests didn’t work. He said we didn’t want to cooperate, as if that was an option at that time. I remember every second of every moment I’ve spent in a room with him, and believe me, none of them are pleasing.”

Amanda never knew what happened on Blackwing, not exactly. But oh, she remembered. She remembered what she saw when Wakti helped her to get the boys out of those underground cages. She remembered the way Dirk got when he had to go back to the facility alone. And she remembered very well how Vogel reacted to that stupid nightmare thinking he would go back, that they were _ ‘coming for him’ _ .

“I’m already telling you, Amanda,” Zia gazed at her, slightly shaking her head, “if we have to go anywhere near that man, it’s not gonna be pretty.” 

And they stayed in silence, not needing to be mind readers to know they shared the same thoughts. Far from the gloomy atmosphere that created around the bonfire, Martin saw Gripps and Cross joining Vogel in his classes with Diana, leaving Dusk alone with his guitar in hand. He started to pull the strings when he noticed Martin’s stare.

“You know you can come closer,” he smirked. “I don’t bite.”

Martin mimicked his smile and walked over where the man played a slow and calm melody. The new clothes they handed him were a size or two bigger than his, so his hands seemed to go out of the cones of leather that were the sleeves of Gripps jacket. 

“I haven’t seen you back then,” Martin spoke. “In the breakout. How did you do to escape?”

It was something that bugged him to this day. At that moment, he hadn’t cared about the other subjects, his only objective was having his guys out of that demonic place. But when time passed, he couldn’t take the thought out of his mind, the guilty question of what had happened to the unlucky ones that couldn’t make it hovered over the rest of his thoughts. Martin didn’t even know if there were others besides those they had helped. Now, seventeen years later and with living proof in front of him, he felt the need to ask.

“I’d say I’ve got my own methods.” There was a spark in his eyes that shone with mischief. “They can’t find a chameleon if it is disguised.”

“So you’re a shapeshifter,” he concluded.

“No, I wouldn’t call me that,” Dusk shook his head slowly, not really lifting his eyes from the guitar. “But I do turn into something. Something that tore Blackwing down that first time. No one could recognise me.”

In front of his eyes, Martin saw the flames that once burnt the facility down, destroying temporarily with it the symbol of his curse. He looked at Dusk again and furrowed his brows.

“You’re project Dragon.”

When he was under Blackwing’s control, he could hear the guards talking. They spoke about countless useless things, but what Martin craved the most to hear was the conversations about the other subjects. He’d learned a lot about them in those damned years and now he could still remember facts about them, coming back to his memory after being dug out of the hole he had stored them in.

“Very much indeed, my new friend.” The notes of his music turned even slower as he lifted his glance to Martin’s squinted eyes. He looked quite proud that someone else recognized him. He had a cocky attitude, Martin figured. “I can lit myself in fire with no other scratch. Safe and sound.”

“And you say you were a fireman,” he crossed his arms upon his chest, with a new interest in the guy’s life.

“Pretty ironic, don’t you think?” Dusk frowned deeper and mumbled: “I think there’s a song for that.”

“And what was life before, huh? How could old Blackwing get a man like you out of the job.”

Dusk snorted at this, a bitter smirk taking place in his face. When he spoke, his words were full of poison.

“You know they got methods to break even the strongest man.” For a moment Martin believed the conversation to be over, until Dusk set the guitar aside and returned to look at him with what he thought was a dangerous flick behind his eyes. Something that interrupted the carefree facade he’d been holding up to this moment. “They made me get in the first time, threatening to take from me something… valuable.” His eyes ran nervously through Martin’s face. “When I got out, I was just worried he would keep his promise.”

“He?” Martin asked, but already feeling his muscles tense, knowing the answer beforehand.

“Goddamn Priest,” Dusk chuckled humourless. “I was a hero before him, d’you know? I used to feel the most powerful person, in the entire world to be honest. Just saving people and putting those flames away, knowing I was making lots of good. I felt… like I was living the life I was supposed to.”

His hands, now lacking something to hold, laid dead now on his flexed leg. His whole body looked calm, not really meeting the nervous intensity with which his eyes darted around the whole park. There was something going on inside his brain that Martin could see - and almost feel - from where he was standing. The energy surrounding him was so crisped that anyone could taste the stress accumulated inside him.

“Now… I just wander. I play whatever I can remember, try to guess the song from memory or just invent something to pass the time. Always running as far away as I can get from that madman.” Now, Dusk looked back at him, and the depth of that stare could burn holes in his skull if he tried hard enough. “I can’t go back there.”

And Martin could do nothing but feel bad for that man. Because he had the memories printed right behind his eyelids, ready to assault him whenever they were triggered. He knew that what happened in Blackwing could never be good, not even for those who the program thought the most useless. 

And that high-pitched scream screeching in his mind...

Any other time, he would’ve gone violent. Close himself and send whoever he was talking with to somewhere they couldn’t bother him anymore. But Dusk in front of him showed something that the others didn’t. He was lost. A stray with nowhere to go, with the same fears as him. Deep down, Martin thought he could be capable of things as crazy as them, but his attitude when affronted was different from those he saw in Zia or Diana. He had a certain look in his eyes, scared, trying to escape from whatever prison he had found himself in. A look he had only seen four times before.

Martin threw an arm through his shoulders and embraced him in a sided protective hug. This took Dusk off guard, but he composed himself right after seeing the smirk in Martin’s face. 

“Well, you’re a part of the team now. And the Rowdy 3 take care of each other. No wandering, no hiding. Here, we fight back.”

An iron bar appeared in Dusk’s hands. He grabbed it lightly at first, with a slightly confused expression. When he looked up, frown well set in his forehead, Martin put a hand in his chest, right where his heart throbbed strongly against his ribcage.

“No one’s taking anyone back. And if they try, we have some crazy people ready to defend them. No one’s left behind.”

Dusk’s lips curved in a small grin. His hands gripped tightly around the metal weapon, as sure as the new look that showed in his face.

 

* * *

 

She had heard on some occasion the expression “time flies by”. For her, time was another invention that everyone seemed so worried about but she found completely uninteresting. However, once she entered that room, it all made sense.

Kind of.

Talking with Tessa, Bart felt like she couldn’t have been there for more than some minutes, but the number of things they spoke about told another story. Their chat got pretty gleeful in a matter of seconds. When Bart started talking about Panto and his incredible world, Tessa had relaxed, letting herself even laugh out loud at some parts of the story. Yeah, Bart liked this. She felt as if there was a light in her stomach, like a bulb or something that turned on some clearness inside her. And with every second, this light expanded to the rest of her body. Universe seemed to like Tessa. It was good, Bart decided, because she liked her too.

She wasn’t so tiny as she initially thought. Once the fear of an attack went away, Tessa sat fully stretched against the wall. She couldn’t be taller than Bart, but she wasn’t a bush like she had originally seemed. She was speaking confidently now, freely, maybe sharing that light-hearted feeling Bart held inside her tummy. Her voice, clear and high, had no shadows of the tremble she was first received with, and there were no visible tears in those almost jet black eyes.

Now, Bart was sat on top of the bed, already too comfortable to care about behaviour. And according to Tessa’s smile, she didn’t mind either.

“You’ve had insane adventures,” she giggled from the floor. Tessa had leaned down the wall until her back was laying across the white tiles covering the ground. Her hair contorned her face like a fluffy pillow made of curls. Bart thought they looked very cool.

“Yeah, I’ve met tons of people on my trips. Some of them were really weird,” she mumbled as she bit one of her nails. “They were always screaming or whining, I never understood why.”

“I can’t begin to imagine,” she rolled her eyes. 

“And what are your stories from the outside?” she smiled, swinging back and forth with anticipation. “I’m sure they must be wild.”

Her smile faltered and Bart wondered if she’d asked the wrong question. But she didn’t shut herself down. Instead, Tessa looked at Bart in the eye and nervously answered:

“I’ve never been outside. Not since I was a child, at least.”

“What?!” Unbelievable. “You’ve been here forever?!”

Tessa sat back and scratched a spot behind her ear, which Bart found really funny. Unlike what she said after that.

“I was brought in as a kid. I… I did awful things. Thing’s I’m not proud of,” she shook her head, gaze fixed in the floor. And then she chuckled, “I probably sort of deserve this.”

“But you said you were a kid.” Bart frowned deeply, unsure of what could a little Tessa probably do to deserve being held in Blackwing.

The other woman shrugged with a bitter expression on her face. “You killed people before learning to speak, right? Well the same happened to me. And… the results weren’t good.”

“And when did that happen?” she lent over the bed, trying to immerse into the story.

“I was six,” she nodded, like if she was assimilating the fact of her youth being spoiled by some gruesome act of the Universe’s intentions. Then she bit her lip and shook the feeling away, “But, I don’t want to talk about that.” She ended it with a smile, reassuring Bart that they were on good terms.

“So, you’ve been here for almost ever and… never got out?”

Tessa moved her head to the sides again.

“And what did you do here?” Bart asked, perplexed by the possibility of having a good mental health after living so many years in a place as boring as Blackwing.

“Whatever they wanted me to do. Or, well, I tried,” she snorted humourlessly. “Tests never went as they expected.” 

“Yeah,” Bart still felt the tingle from electricity running down her arms, “I know a bit about that.”

“Days were more or less the same.” She rested her back against the wall, hugging one leg while the other stretched along the floor. “They would take me out of this room, down to the investigation area, make me do some shit that never worked and then…” She licked her lips, gulping a little too loudly in the silence of the room. “Then he would come.”

“Who?”

“Priest,” Tessa lifted her eyebrows, and sighed. “That was, like, the worst part of the day.”

“Was it that bad?”

Bart never had a bad encounter with him prior to the electrocution thing. Her feelings toward that man had always been labeled as indifferent. Maybe a bit grossed out, but never scared. Now she could probably tag them as mildly disturbed.

Tessa, however, seemed to have other opinions.

“He did such horrible things to us. He said… he said we had to be corrected. To go straight and well.” Her eyes seemed to go far back on those memories before looking up at Bart, a hand barely touching the hurt side of her face. “He’s the one who gave me this scar.”

Now, her feelings for Priest had gone to fully outrageous levels.

But she didn’t want Tessa to feel bad, not now. So she looked inside her brain until she came up with the perfect idea.

“I know what we can do now.” Bart got up from the bed and walked slowly towards the door.

“What’s on your mind,” she said, standing up as well.

“Did you know locks never really worked for me?” 

As well as pain. But Bart hoped this Universe gift remained untouched. Otherwise, it would ruin her plan at all.

“How?” Tessa asked with curiosity replacing the sadness in her eyes.

“They just stop working. Or they fall. It’s like, the Universe wants me to keep going to my next target. So, closed doors can’t really stop me, right?” 

As soon as her hand landed on the door, Bart felt the bells ringing in her mind, repeating one word over and over again with a high intensity.

_ Ken. _

Bart took a deep breath, knowing very well what that meant, what the Universe was trying to tell her. But deciding not to listen to it, she pushed with her open palms to see the door fully open before her.

“Oh my God,” Tessa yelled in a whisper, following Bart through the hallways of the facility that suddenly decided to take out the guards that should be taking care of them. “How did you do that?”

“You know I can’t really explain that,” she beamed.

Tessa laughed at that. Bart really liked that sound. It made her want to laugh as well. She took her by the arm and drove her to the usual routine she herself had done multiple times when she had her time in a cell. The went through a lot of passages, messing with the security cameras, dancing in the investigation rooms and playing with plastic skeletons, different types of cards and what Bart thought were the funniest exercise machines in the world.

It had gone well. More than well even. They ran away from the guards whenever they noticed where they were, made faces to the doctors in the scientific rooms, even made some projects smile while they were taking tests. And the best of all, Bart knew Ken was watching every part of it through the cameras. 

_ I did it _ , she thought.  _ We’re bonding! _

But what she didn’t anticipate was the call from some certain Supervisor on the cops to take them back to their respective dorms.

They came from the corner of the hallway while Tessa and Bart were having a race. Tessa was in first place, so she was the first one they reached. When her eyes landed on the men in black uniforms in front of her, her face went pale white as the doctor’s coveralls. To Bart’s surprise, they took her down immediately, not taking care of hurting her. Two of them threw her to the floor while a third one made sure she hadn’t a weapon with her. All of this happened while the fourth guard held Bart away from them, carefully grabbing her by one arm and probably out of fear.

“What are you doing, assholes?!” Bart yelled, trying to take that stupid hand out of her to save Tessa.

She was standing now, and they threw her against the wall. Between the pairs of shoulders, Bart saw her face. She was scared, scared in a way that made every hair in her stand up. But they were not only scaring her. They were _ hurting _ her. They threw Tessa against the wall to make her shut up, trying to hold her in some way they could take her to the room without being in danger. The sound of her cries reached Bart’s ears, and it took all in her to finally take the arm out of that guy’s reach, steal his gun and position herself between the security guards and Tessa.

“Stay away! Stay away from her or I’ll shoot you!”

They took some steps back, holding her hands up to show they had no other intention than obeying her. It was wrong. She knew it. The Universe didn’t want them dead, and there were no bells ringing to tell her otherwise. But she looked at Tessa behind her, curled up in a ball in the floor and looking with those big terrified eyes that she had when they met, and Bart knew she was doing the right thing. 

But then another person appeared. He walked past the guards and stood right in front of Bart with no sign of fear at all. She could tell he felt invincible.

“Hi Bart,” Ken greeted. “Why don’t you take the gun down?”

She cast a last look at the guards behind him and put the weapon in the floor. Ken went to pick it up and took some steps to distance himself from her.

“There it goes,” he smiled politely. But it was a cold smile, not the one Bart knew from their trips in a dirty taxi. “That was easy, wasn’t it?”

“I did what you told me, Ken,” Bart whispered, suddenly feeling smaller. “We bonded.”

“Yeah, and you did it great. But,” he clicked his tongue, “we can’t let you do this. Wandering through the whole facility… what kind of ideas are we getting into the other project’s minds?”

Bart nodded, not really understanding what that had to do with them having fun but understanding that if Ken said it, then it must be a good reason. He was so clever…

She felt a tug in her leg, and after turning around, she saw Tessa, still on the floor, with a hand grabbing a handful of the fabric in her trousers.

“Don’t… Don’t let them take her,” Bart begged. She looked into Ken’s eyes, hoping to find a bit of compassion. But the only thing she found was a plain void of nothing.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Ken tilted his head to the side. “They’ll have to escort her to her room. And, given the circumstances, I think you should go to yours.”

The army of guys behind him, now increased in number, looked like a bunch of vultures waiting to eat the rotten flesh from their new pray. And looking back at Tessa, she seemed exactly the kind of prey they would eat.

“I know it’s not easy,” Ken whispered, “but you gotta help me with this. Besides, you already know the way, don’t you?”

The weight of the gun fell on her hand again. Ken wrapped Bart’s fingers around it, and the Universe went so crazy about it she thought her head was going to explode. But Ken didn’t look worried. He was unaware of the constant yell in Bart’s head telling her to kill him, right there, right then. Dead on the spot. But she couldn’t. And she was pretty sure Ken knew she wouldn’t.

Seconds later, a few guards are walking with her to her bedroom, and just as she turned in the corner, she saw Tessa being carried while she cried, she cried very hard.

As the lights of her bedroom turned off, Bart thought that the Universe might not be her best friend right now.

* * *

 

 

The unmistakable cop’s truck came when they were having breakfast. Once they were out on the glowing snow, the team was greeted with Tina Tevetino’s usual enthusiasm as she loudly honked while trying to park in front of the motel. The deputy got off the vehicle and ran straight up to Farah, filling her face with smooches in every possible way. Todd observed from a fair distance that let them have their moment as his friend welcomed her girlfriend with a wide beam on her lips. He knew Farah had her insecurities constantly bringing her down, and if not, she was very stressed about the situations he and Dirk usually got themselves in, so seeing the joy in her face when Tina started talking about the travel without leaving her side made him feel good for her.

He was happy to have the two cops here too. It had been three long months since he had seen them. Maybe he wasn’t too attached to them as Farah was, but he had missed a fair bit Tina’s hilarious stories and Hobbs’ paternal hugs. And the improvise brunches he and Tina had. And the moments where Hobbs and he would talk about what was having a crazy partner like. And those nights were all of them relaxed in the police station, letting a movie fill the blank space in conversation and have a few drinks...

Okay, yeah, he might have missed them more than he thought.

“Hey! How’s the mystery gang doing?” Tina approached him with her arm hanging loosely of Farah’s neck. “Everything alright?”

“Depends on what you define as ‘alright’,” he smiled.

On the distance, Dirk was informing Hobbs about everything they had gathered in the past two days. Judging by the sheriff’s expression, he was interested right from the beginning. When they got to where Todd was standing, leaving the couple to update on the missing time, he heard them discussing the case over. Shortly after Hobbs greeted him with a respectful nod, Dirk told him about the missing girl from the motel.

“In the air? Just like that?” Hobbs whistled, “You got a good one with this.”

Drik seemed extremely pleased with the reaction.

“We like to think that her disappearance is ultimately related to the missing person’s case. And we’ve talked with  _ lots _ of people—oh and the best part is: no one knows why they left or where they went. Incredible, right?”

“I don’t think we should say that about several people disappearing, Dirk,” Todd advised.

“So they ran away just because?” Hobbs turned into detective mode, as Todd had heard Dirk refer to the thoughtful expression everyone made when trying to understand something. “Like Arianna?”

“Exactly like Arianna,” Dirk snapped his fingers. “We still need more clues, but that’s why we brought you here. Perhaps you could help us cover more terrain, doing some investigation, and all the things normal detectives do.”

“And how’s the Universe involved in this?” Hobbs asked for simple curiosity, but Todd was sensing a bad election of words approaching. “Did it tell you something, Dirk?”

And there it was. Dirk’s pleased and confident attitude faltered for only one second. After that, his speech got a bit messy and cut off, trying to explain himself and the facts without mentioning the obvious important factor that Todd knew he would prefer not to acknowledge.

“Well, something like that. It hasn’t expressly talked to me—not as usual at least. It appears to be that in the most recent times the Universe had picked a new way to inform me its desires or bits of advice, it just seems to not be the most convenient or favorable for me and the other’s involved. Now, unfortunately, this time it is highly related to the case and the subject of our investigation, so even if I’d love, and believe me I  _ very much do _ , want to act as if none of that happened, I find myself in a place where I can literally not...”

He continued rambling in Dirk’s usual fashion, making no stop in between sentences and almost running out of breath multiple times before getting across the point. Todd knew this meant his nervousness was at high levels so he looked for Farah’s guidance to know what to do next. She seemed to be a bit distracted from Tina’s arrest story once she heard Dirk talking nonstop, so when Todd caught her sight, she tilted her head in the direction of the detective with a raise of her eyebrows. But Todd had never understood any of her faces when she tried to communicate without words, so he just frowned at her. She rolled her eyes and cut Tina off to interrupt Dirk’s vomit of words.

“Hey, I have a wonderful idea,” her tone, however, indicated otherwise, “why don’t we let the guys settle in before going deep into the case? You know,” she looked at Tina now, “to catch up.”

“Wonderful idea, Farah, as every one you have,” Dirk smiled, clearly happy to avoid the talk that surely Todd would end up having with Hobbs about the reality of the matter. “So what about you and Tina go and,” he made a vague gesture between them, “do your thing, and Todd and I help Hobbs to check in!”

They didn’t need to say more, because after an exchange saying goodbye, the two ladies left them on their own, disappearing almost as fast as pastries did whenever Dirk was around. Which, for the record, was really fast.

“Well,” Dirk clapped his hands, “I think there’s nothing else to do. Let’s go in, shall we?”

And he started walking with his chin lifted up as the most resolute person to ever walk on Earth. It clearly couldn’t be further from reality. Todd sighed, a feeling of worry settling in his stomach. Hobbs, beside him, looked equally concerned about Dirk’s behaviour.

“Um, sorry if I’m not meant to ask Todd, but why is Dirk…?”

“Talking with a politeness that makes you want to rip your ears off and saying a thousand words per minute more than the usual?” He turned to look at the front doors where Dirk had disappeared in. “He is… feeling bad lately. A bit nervous about, well, this whole thing.”

“I see.” Hobbs glanced at Todd giving small nods of the head.

“I promise I’ll explain everything, Dirk just-”

“No no no, I understand,” he adjusted his sheriff hat. “All in your times, buddy. No pressure.”

Todd smiled. Yeah, he had missed the man.

Once they were inside of the motel they found Dirk eagerly chatting with Donna, who clearly had some trouble trying to keep up with whatever story Dirk had decided to tell.

“And then the mage turned him into a zombie that was destined to bring boxes into a truck for the rest of his life, which… to be honest I don’t see the purpose.” Then he kept talking faster, using his gloved hands to express even better his thoughts, “What would he do once the truck was loaded? Go to find another truck to take boxes to? And what would he do after that? Was he supposed to keep finding boxes and trucks until the end of eternity? And what if-oh! Here he is! Donna, this is sheriff Hobbs, from Bersberg, in Montana.”

Donna’s face changed noticeably: The lost look in her eyes changed for a wide-eyed one and her slightly creased brows lift upwards in her forehead.

“Oh, so you are Hobbs,” she said as an introduction. And was that a smile what Todd saw on her face? “Are you the zombie cop?”

“Um, I think?” he chuckled. “But, you can call me Hobbs. Or Sherlock, if you want.” He took off his hat, as if he was in front of someone of hierarchy, and extended his hand to her.

Todd looked at Dirk with raised eyebrows, who only shrugged a little bit. Donna took his hand, and this time he hadn’t imagined seeing the light tone of blush that covered her cheeks.

“Anyway, Donna,” Dirk spoke again, taking them out of the weird trance they got in, “we were hoping you could help us get a room for Hobbs for his stay here and…”

“Right,” she spoke with a tone a bit too high. Having realised that, she cleared her throat to speak normally again. “I mean, yes, no problem. Or I could help him to check in as you, guys, go on with the case.”

“Actually we have some kind of day off so it wouldn’t be a problem to…”

“No, Todd, I think the lady is right,” Hobbs nodded along. “I don’t think we need three people to take the suitcases to the room, right?”

And after setting up a meeting for the afternoon to speak about the plans for the case, Donna and Hobbs went down the hallway, chatting shyly until they were lost in the corridor. When he was sure they wouldn’t hear him, Todd huffed. 

“Unbelievable. What’s going on today that everyone seems to be wanting to get laid?”

“I’m not really sure we can find that out now,” Dirk said beside him, just as taken by surprise as him. “That has to be a case for another time.”

Todd looked at him from the corner of his eye. Dirk tried to play it cool, but there was some crispiness in the way he smiled that looked unnatural on him.

“I know I’m meant to, you know,” he swung his head a bit to the sides, “leave you alone and not ask when this happens, but are you alright?”

Dirk smiled down at him, quite fondly he’d say.

“I’m okay. I think I only have to get used to, you know, talking about that,” he gave a half shrug, taking the weight off the matter. 

“Nothing’s going to happen,” he assured back. “I won’t get tired of repeating it.”

“Yeah, I guess we’ll see that. But you don’t have to worry that much, I’ll be fine.”

“Sure,” Todd noded, “as long as you don’t destroy your lungs for not taking a fucking breath in between your rambles I guess you’ll be fine.”

“Shut up,” he laughed.

But there was still something off on him from that conversation with Hobbs, and Todd thought it was his job to fix that. After all, they had a day off, and there was a whole village to discover. 

Something made a click in his mind and the everbulb in his head turned on with an idea. He shoved his bare hands inside the pockets of his coat, trying to come out with a way to say it that sounded more casual.

“You know, I think I have an idea of what we can do today.”

A few dorms in, Farah and Tina were making good use of the lost time. The room wasn’t a big thing on itself. The bed that she had patiently made this morning had some of her clothes spread on top of the blanket, with the suitcase open just a few steps closer. The wardrobe wasn’t of real good use as she had decided to put her collection of travel-designed weapons in case their work got pretty threatening pretty quick. And then there was a desk, which she had gotten after speaking with Mrs. Denver where all of Arianna’s papers as well as some of her inventions were piled, and where she was currently pressing Tina in the so-waited make-out session.

Farah could feel in her the throbbing desire that she had been putting down in those last months. Now, that sensation played a part in the intensity of their kisses, embracing both pairs of lips in a quite even battle that no one knew who could or even wanted to win. The nibbling from Tina’s part was making the fuzzy feeling on her stomach rise up to her throat, making her produce such strange noises that she would surely be ashamed for later. Her hands ended up in her girlfriend’s neck as she deepened the kiss, making her almost fall on top of the documents.

“You should be more careful,” she let out with a short laugh.

“There’ll be time for that later,” Farah spoke against her jaw, hungrily planting kisses on the exposed skin and biting a fair bit when going down her neck.

Tina, however, seemed a bit more distracted with the papers she almost landed on.

“What are you doing with a bunch of codes?” she asked with a some of the papers in her hands.

That was enough to take Farah’s attention out of the heat of the moment. Tina was holding one of the transcripts Farah had been working with since last night. It was an attempt to decipher any hidden message in the matchbox Arianna had built prior to her disappearing. She had thought it sounded an awful lot like something she’s heard before, and going back through the broken melody again Farah was pleased to identify a morse code structure. That very night, as Todd and Donna looked for clues and Dirk did… whatever he was doing, she locked herself in the room trying to figure out what the message tried to say. However, no matter how much effort she put into it, the final result was a huge mine of nothing. When she wrote down the letters corresponding to the music no useful sentence came out of that. It was a repetition of some certain letter that made no sense: “Ltxy. Yheehp max lbzg. Vhfx bg ixtvx”. Definitely nothing worth to try and guess. She had tried to see if there was another code in it, she used the transposition method, the monoalphabetic substitution, she even looked for the damn ASCII code! But nothing came out of that, and when the brilliant clock in her bedside table informed her the sun was about to rise in the sky, she decided to call it a day.

“Those are, um, from the case we are working right now but, I didn’t find anything in them.”

Tina looked at them and Farah watched as her eyes passed through every character on the paper. But she might have recognized something in there, because suddenly, her brows furrowed and she went through the mix of letters at the bottom of the page with renovated interest, holding the paper inches away from her face.

“Why do you have lines in Caesar Shift?”

“Sorry, in what?” Farah asked, trying to be sure she heard the right thing.

“Caesar Shift,” Tina repeated, getting off from the desk and turning around it to inspect the rest of the notes, “I learned about it when I was a teen. I didn’t believe it was that at first, but it’s a very strange combination of words and-” she lifted her head and shook her hands “-babe, do you have a paper and pencil around here?”

Farah handed her the utensils as she stepped to stand behind her back, and for twenty full minutes she watched as Tina drew different variations of two concentric circles, each one with the alphabet in different places — one going to the right and the other going to the left. This went on until Tina scribbled a few letters next to the new circles, already drawn as messy sketches, and yelled a curse to the ceiling.

“Yes! It’s a T code!” 

“A… what?” Farah only saw several shapes drawn on varying sizes and orders. It made even less sense than the results she had found. “I’m a little lost here, Tina, if you could just...”

“It’s a cipher,” Tina explained, picking the paper and marking with the pencil the letter inside the drawings. “On the upper circle you write the alphabet in the right order, and in the one below, you put a letter under the A and go on from there, giving every letter a new meaning. This is a T code, so the alphabet from below starts with a T, the B is a U, and the C is a V and the D is a W and so on! If you replace the letters of your message with the ones from the upper circle, then-” she wrote something down and when her head was up again she showed a big grin on her face, “-it says this!”

She passed her the paper, and when Farah read what was written on it, she just wanted to hug Tina so tight and never let her go. The words that appeared in the sheet now not only made sense, but they even looked like a complete sentence. Farah inspected it from closer, trying to be sure what she was reading it right. And yeah, there was no doubt of the result.

“How did you know this?” she asked, trying not to sound so surprised but more impressed.

“What can I say?” Tina rested her elbow on the desk, leaning on her arm and with an overconfident smirk. “I did like Roman history.”

Farah leaned on and cupped her face between her hands, smiling softly at her. “Tina,” she said with the proudest tone she could make, “you’re a genius.”

 

* * *

 

The vision was extraordinary. He had seen what the land looked like before. All bright colours, the soul of a celebration that seemed to be eternal, not a cloud to block the sun as its rays enlightened the whole Kingdom and all its citizens, keeping them away from the darkness.

Now, it was unrecognisable. The men and women, forced to be working with the weapons, showed sad large faces across the entire table. The sound of the hammers impacting against the metal, shaping them, created a whole symphony of sounds that were reserved only for an armory. He didn’t know where it had come from, it might have been because of him, but suddenly a thick grey smoke covered the workers, and the knights controlling them, and the constructions that cornered the square where every Wendimoor inhabitant was forming up the group that would help Friedkin to save the world.

Everything was dull, dark and stained with sadness. But they were creating an army. And damn God if that wasn’t the greatest dream.

At his side, the small Prince (because  _ he _ was the King now) looked at his former population with numbness in his expression. To be fair, Friedkin found this new version of the boy a little bit creepy. Yes, he had created it, and yes, he answered only to his commands, but fuck Hell if having a little kid following you around as if he was possessed didn’t seem like taken out of a horror movie.

“Why is it red?” he spoke, making Friedkin literally jump in his place. That was exactly what he meant.

“W-what are you talking about?”

That little kid was like a message from a fortune cookie: Friedkin never understood what he actually intended to say.

“Your eyes,” he pointed up at Hugo’s face, a little bit invasive if he had to be honest. “They turn red when you do magic.”

“Oh, well… it’s because my energy is like that. I think. It reflects, like, my actions or something.”

He remembered how much it took him to understand that. But the Universe was wise and patient. And eternally fucking long. He had had a lot of time to figure out the secrets of his newly acquired abilities, and with the help of the know-it-all force, he got to understand even the deepest and best-hidden corners of it all.

“I am special, somehow. Or that’s what it told me.”

“It?” Francis asked.

“The Universe. It, it trained me, to control my powers. This magic comes from particular people. Apparently it comes from pain and strong hurtful emotions etcetera, etcetera,” he waved his hand in circles to express the unimportance of the matter, at least to him. “My energy, that is, comes from the pain I… I have inflicted. What I did to others.”

“So Amanda’s magic is blue because of her own pain?” The boy looked up at him with those milky eyes that seemed to be covered by mist. He would lie if he said it didn’t send a chill down his spine.

“Yeah… whoever she is,” Friedkin nodded to act as if he knew what he meant. What was with the nonsense of this guy? “But, I am going to revert this.”

He looked at the scene in front of him. All the temerous warriors that he would lead to his victory, finally setting the things on balance again.

“I will make this right,” he smiled, puffing his chest out with pride at the future he had foreseen.

But in the village, things weren’t going that well. The Kingdom was in such a state as it had never been before. Silas didn’t remember an age so tragic or so dead like this one.

It started suddenly. That day, the one that began so wonderfully for all the villagers, turned into a nightmare the moment Panto came back, short of breath, trying to explain in spurts of information what had happened in the cave. And then the knights appeared. He had no idea where they could have come from, but soon they took over most of the square, throwing to the floor any civilian, noble or farmer, that crossed their path. They gave a fairly good fight, but it didn’t take long until every person was under their control.

And he came. The dumb guy who Silas so stupidly believed could mean no harm to their home. Now he seemed decided, powerful, looking at all of them as if he was the king of the place. What a surprise was to discover that after having taken down Francis, he became their governor with full right.

Now he had them doing hard-work, working on some metals and stone to make new and more lethal weapons. Guarded by the new knights, the table where hours ago a delicious celebratory feast waited patiently for the wedding to start, now held uncountable resources where the peopleーhis peopleーhad to work.

Silas felt filthy. Not only for the dust that covered now his hands and probably most of his face as well, but for taking part in the dirty game that was preparing for a war. He wasn’t stupid, he knew this wasn’t for simple fun. And to be honest, that Friedkin guy looked a bit out of himself sometimes, speaking about projects and leaders and some dark coloured wings being about to destroy the Cosmos. But if that was anything to go by… he didn’t like it one bit.

In the seat in front of him, Panto was about to work with a particular block of stone. Silas’ eyes teared up by thinking how close they were to happiness, to finally sealing their destiny as one. In one of his numerous glances, Panto noticed that, because soon he felt his foot hovering over Silas’ to make him look up. When the knight walked a few steps away, he finally spoke with a tender voice.

“What’s it, my love?” 

His eyes looked so loving that he couldn’t look at them. Not like this. 

Silas shook his head, a broken whisper answering for him, “This isn’t how I imagined this day would be.”

Panto understood without needing him to elaborate. That was something he always loved about him.

“Me neither,” Panto said, his voice lowering to a whisper when one of the guards passed behind him. “This whole thing smells too bad for me.”

The fierceness in his throat almost seemed like a growl. But where Panto was angry, Silas just felt sad. He couldn’t understand where his boyfriend’s anger had appeared from, nor if he wanted to experience it himself. Being a revel under such vigilance was nothing but being trouble. And it was better if the trouble was avoided in their conditions.

But there was something more keeping him from being an exploding volcano.

“I’m scared,” he whispered.

Ah, he said it. 

“I don’t know what’s going on. I can feel the danger, I know that it’s coming. But I can’t foresee what will come out of this.” Panto frowned at him, worried, sending any rest of harshness in his look away. “I don’t know where my family is, what happened to them. I haven’t seen them since everything started. I… I don’t know what’s going to happen to us.”

“Nothing’s gonna happen to us,” he tried to reassure him.

“How do you know?” Silas hissed back. “What do we need all these weapons for if not for war? And against whom are we going to fight? This is no game, Panto. And I’m afraid it might cost us more than the last time.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because this time there’ll be no boy who could bring us back from the dead.”

He knew he was being pessimistic, but if he could only look away to where Friedkin was yelling at someone, he was pretty sure Francis would be right behind, like a little servant, fooled with some sort of magic to follow him at all times.

Panto’s hand wrapped softly around his own, forcing Silas to look back at him. He had a gentle smile tracing his lips that look a little out of place with his sad eyes.

“I can’t deny hard times are coming,” he said, in that special voice that he knew was only for him, “but we must stand strong. Nothing is going to take us apart again. I promised it, and I don’t intend to failing my word anytime soon.”

“But what if they do?” Silas asked, letting his fear speak for himself. “What if I can’t see you anymore?”

“Then be deeply sure that I will come back to you.” His smile widened, being followed right after by his eyes when an idea fell into place in his mind. “And in the meantime,” he covered with grease the nail of his annular finger, putting it close to Silas’ pink-coloured one, “you can think of this as a seal of my promise.”

He knew he was lucky to have a person like Panto in his life. And for a moment, he smiled. But deep down, Silas feared that such a beautiful light could be taken away as easily as one could extinguish the fire of a candle.

 

* * *

 

Since the beginning of the Agency, Mona had decided staying with them would be her next big adventure. She insisted that she could be of great help whenever the investigating group were in need, that she could turn herself to whatever useful tool that might come in handy. However, since the success of the business wasn’t the expected, her task was limited to being Dirk’s provisional closet for when an outfit change wasn’t possible. While most of the time that meant having to turn into awful shirts that Todd found hideously funny or an imperfectly perfect tie that matched Dirk’s other clothes exactly, these last days Mona got to be different kinds of winter clothing. For the vibrant colours that exhibited in Dirk’s scarf, Todd would say she was happy of having the chance.

Now, as Mona swung from Dirk’s neck to the rhythm of the wind, Todd took the opportunity to cast a look at his best friend. Dirk’s face was blank, but his eyes, always so communicative, showed the torrent of thoughts that were surely crossing his head. While his body walked along Todd through the streets of Wombourne, his mind was clearly somewhere else.

“You didn’t ask,” he said out of the blue.

“Hmph?” Dirk lifted an eyebrow, getting out of his trance.

“You didn’t ask where we’re going.”

Dirk looked ashamed of that, as if he recognised it as some sort of offence to his usually curious personality.

“I’m sorry Todd,” he apologised, “my thoughts were a bit distracted. But, now that you do mention it, would you mind explaining yourself a little bit?”

“Well, when we were looking for information yesterday, I couldn’t stop looking around this beautiful village we are right now,” Todd chewed the inside of his cheek. He didn’t want a knowing smile ruining the surprise.

“Yes, indeed.” Dirk agreed. His hands were uncomfortably kept inside his pockets. It was odd having him talking only with words and no gestures. “It has its looks.”

“Yeah, and, I couldn’t keep but notice something in our race back to the motel,” he went on. He could already anticipate Dirk’s reaction and damn it all, the grin was unavoidable at this point. “Now, I was going to tell you earlier, but with all the Arianna stuff and Hobbs and Tina’s arrival I kind of forgot.”

“Oh my god,” Dirk stopped him on his tracks, “you found a free ice-cream store.”

“I-what? No,” Todd resumed their walk, snorting at Dirk’s disappointed face. “It’s even better.”

“What’s better than free ice-cream?”

“Dirk,” Todd gave him a sided look. “I found a library.”

The detective’s eyes grew wider, and the tight grip he held of Todd’s arm was proof enough of his excitement.

“No way. Are you being serious? They do have libraries in this bloody little town?”

Todd shushed him after receiving a strange look from one man walking beside them. But it was totally worth having strangers look down on you if it meant Dirk got to beam with that glee he was used to.

As it happened with many things after Dirk settled in his life, it all started with a hunch. Todd found himself being dragged by his friend on a Saturday afternoon to the Seattle nearest bookstore. When they arrived, the only information Todd had received was they were looking for something, something vital and of extreme importance for their next big case. Of course he didn’t have the heart to point out that lately, everything for Dirk was a clue for their next big case, so he followed his lead as he always did.

They went separate ways, being Dirk in charge of looking through the books and Todd the one inspecting the music selection. At some point, after having checked out what Todd thought would be his next purchase, he heard Dirk calling him from the erotic books aisle. Apologising to the other shoppers, he walked over to where the detective tried to muffle a laugh between his fingers.

“What happened?” he asked, confused about Dirk’s newest attitude. “Did you find something?”

“Technically, no,” Dirk giggled, passing him the book. “But oh Heavens, you must read that line.”

And rolling his eyes, Todd did so.

It was the single most hilarious thing he had ever read in his life. 

The sentence itself was ridiculous, but as they read the other pages that followed they found that the entire book was written with that same style. Of course they were no one to judge others creative works, Todd knew that from being a musician. But he couldn’t avoid laughing at every new word that his eyes stumbled upon.

“Oh God, this is almost as bad as the recopilation of k-pop music I found over there,” Todd said trying to calm the last laughs that kept him from speaking.

“Ok, first off, rude,” Dirk pointed at him, still grabbing his stomach. “And secondly, I don’t think anything can be this bad.”

“Oh, you wanna bet?”

And so the tradition begun. After hours full of laughter, with multiple hits that should’ve never reached the radio and books that had one-liners deserving of a face palm, they silently agreed on doing that every once in a while. It was a silly scape they both enjoyed and an excuse to distract themselves from the heavy weight that the Agency represented without Farah throwing them disapproving looks from her desk.

He couldn’t count the amount of tears they had spilled after reading the entirety of Twilight.

So now, opening the crystal doors of the hidden small store, Todd welcomed the smell of old paper and worn out leather with a huge smile. Next to him, Dirk mimicked his expression, throwing looks at the diverse shelves he would be digging into in about two minutes.

“Looks like you’ll have a harsh time today,” Dirk nodded to his left, at the poor section of music with scarce CDs in it .

“You know I’ll win anyway,” he gave him his Trademark Crooked Smile. “A few old discs won’t make the difference.”

“Oh hush now,” Dirk slapped him with his Mona-scarf. “I’ll beat you down anytime.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t count with that.”

They parted ways, collecting as many absurd, ironic or halfway cringy elements they could find to assert their position as the king of the game. After having collected a somewhat decent selection of country and reggae music, Todd turned around to catch his partner’s attention. From the other side of the hallway, Dirk ran his eyes through yellow pages with glowing eyes and a goofy smile.

Todd sighed. He was really fucked.

You see, he hadn’t intended at all letting things go this far. In fact, if things had to be ruined someway, he would’ve expected it to be by his awful nature and not by… this. But after some time, Todd had come to realise he had grown a little crush on his best friend.

He couldn’t pinpoint when it exactly began. He only knew that one day, when Farah took them for some arrangement to try and get a new client—experience Dirk found utterly disappointing—he looked at the detective explaining their job’s methodology to a every-time-more-scared man and one word crossed his mind.

_ Cute _ .

After realising that thought wasn’t necessarily the most appropriate for a friend, he had excused himself to got to the bathroom and have a little crisis that stayed with him the whole day. 

After that, it all sort of skyrocketed. Todd found himself looking at Dirk more times than they were needed and for longer time than the situation required, appreciating the details of his face when he was sure Dirk wouldn’t see him. Sometimes, when the exhaustion was enough to affect their sense of personal space, he would allow that the physical contact between them, light touches in bare arms, a hand placed in the other’s shoulder, feet tangled under the dining table, last more than they normally would. Even in those nights, where dark thoughts interrupted their sleep, Todd would selfishly take advantage of the situation and hold in his arms the large figure of his friend long after the cries had stopped.

He wasn’t proud of most of that. Todd had the feeling it was like stealing from Dirk the trust they had built over the last year for his own interested desires. But even if he was right, they meant nothing. He wasn’t doing anything wrong or bad enough to end up hurting Dirk or their relationship at all. 

Or that was until the couch accident.

They had been watching movies. After running through the entire neighbourhood, they had decided a simple take-out dinner and some Netflix special to fill the silence of their meal. But after finishing his food, Dirk fell completely asleep in their rattled couch, head tilted towards Todd’s side and eyes heavily closed. No matter how much noise Todd did, nothing could’ve wake him up until the next morning. Todd was already making his mind about the idea of having to clean all the dishes when he felt some additional weight bumping his shoulder. There, Dirk’s head peacefully rested while the rest of his body turned to slightly wrap itself around him. 

Todd just snorted when he noticed that Dirk seemed to follow every one of his moves, not letting him get up from his place. He stared at his face, with a relaxed expression he thought should be there more often. It amazed him how vulnerable he looked, trusting him, from all people, to take care of anything that happened while he slept. 

Todd couldn’t take his eyes away. They wandered through the bridge of his nose, passing through the delicate blond-like eyelashes that contrasted with his pale skin. He looked at his hair, craving to touch it and take the lost lock covering his forehead to where it truly belonged. It wasn’t until his eyes landed on Dirk’s lips when Todd wondered how must it feel to kiss them.

He didn’t know what happened after that, or in what order it came. If it was the blush that covered his cheeks what came first, whenever Dirk whispered in his ear while investigating in the street, or the shameful dreams of kissing him against the desk in his office, or the way his lips curved whenever Todd saw him smile. The only thing he knew was that it couldn’t be stopped now, even more when his mind told him how easy would it be pull from that salmon scarf and shut his mouth while he read a dumb poetry with his own lips.

Forget about it, it was a massive crush, the size of a cargo ship on the sea.

For that reason it was such a relief when Dirk suggested going for something hot to drink. He could only hide his thoughts for a certain period of time, and the last thing he wanted was to ruin the beautiful bond they had for some stupid impulse with no reason behind it at all.

The coffeeshop they chose was barely a street away from the library. They took a table close to the window where they had a great view of the small and empty square across the street. Dirk had taken the seat in front of Todd, showing that bright smile of his while commenting about the apparent ‘success’ of their last hunt.

“How can you call it a success?” Todd shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. “My ears feel like a river for all the bleeding they’ve gone through.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad.” But a raised eyebrow from Todd was enough to break Dirk’s attempt of good manners. “Well, you’re right, they were awful. But we had so much fun! That has to mean something for your ears, doesn’t it?”

“I can’t hear you, they haven’t fully recovered from the tractor and the beans song,” he rolled his finger around his left ear to empathise. 

Dirk just rolled his eyes as the waitress brought their orders. As soon as she left, Todd wrapped his hands around the green mug and let the warmth of his black coffee transfer to his body. On the other side, Dirk assaulted his muffin waiting for the tea to get a bit colder.

“Though I feel like I should say thank you,” he spoke through the remains of chocolate in his mouth.

“About what?” Todd tried to appear as innocent.

“You know very well what I’m talking about.” Dirk kicked him lightly under the table, trying to make him drop that attitude. “I know we haven’t gone on that shocking haunt of foolery just because you wanted to.”

Todd smiled sadly at the cup, feeling like a thief who was caught by the police in the act. He felt Dirk’s hand touch his wrist, and when he lifted his glance, Dirk’s honest eyes were returning him the look.

“I know you’ve tried to help me, and I love that you care that much about my well being-”

“That’s because I care about  _ you _ ,” Todd shrugged, taking weight out of the matter.

“-and I appreciate very much that you tried to do this for me in the middle of a case. You’re a great friend and assistant, Todd.”

And there it was. The shiny grin, typical of Dirk Gently. Todd couldn’t keep looking at it. He retreated his hand and took it to his pocket, where his knuckles brushed against an old paper. Something clicked inside his head and made him take it out for Dirk to see it.

“Speaking of assisting…”

Todd placed the picture of the hotel they had found in Arianna’s room. He flattened it against the table and passed it to Dirk, who immediately dropped the sentimental face he was making and changed it for his official Detective Expression he only kept for work and extremely difficult newspaper riddles.

“I found it on her room,” he explained, pointing at the building in the background. “Donna told me it was from the hotel in its first years.”

Dirk’s eyebrows furrowed as his finger tapped a sign in the corner of the photo. “What’s that?”

When Todd first saw it, he hadn’t paid attention to it. The letters in the wood sign were barely legible. Time did no justice to the paper, so the corners were a bit faded. But if he forced his eyes hard enough, the words  _ ‘Eastern Sun’ _ appeared into view.

“I think, that’s the name of the motel. Right?” He looked back at Dirk, whose eyes moved quickly through the wrinkled napkin in his hand. “I mean, that’s the only possibility.”

“Yes, I know, but… I feel like I’ve seen those words before.”

“Maybe you saw the sign outside,” Todd supplied, to which Dirk shook his head before he could finished.

“No, I’m pretty sure it has to be something else. Something like-”

But his words ended right there, because his eyes were attracted by a specific point in the picture, the one Todd had tried to bring up since last night.

“Who is that guy?”

Todd felt proud of knowing the answer to that question.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you.” He brought the chair closer to speak lower without being heard by curious ears. “According to Donna, he was the former plumber from the motel. His name was Hector, and he and Arianna were pretty close friends, if you get what I mean.”

“Oh that’s, that’s great! Wonderful detecting, Todd,” Dirk congratulated him with a soft pat in the shoulder. “I might promote you soon if you keep with this good work.”

“Yeah, I’m sure of it,” he rolled his eyes.

“And where is he right now? If we are in time we can go and-”

“I wouldn’t be so excited,” Todd assured to stop him before Dirk put on his coat. “He’s disappeared, and hear this: it was one day before we came here.”

Todd could already see how Dirk’s brain tried to look for answers and formulate even more questions on the way. 

“Then why isn’t anyone looking for him?”

Todd was about to answer when a loud crashing sound startled anyone in a three blocks ratio. They looked out of the window, only to find the square covered in a black curtain of smoke. They rushed to the street as well as the rest of the people. Todd grabbed Dirk by the arm and tried to make them a path to the centre of the trouble.

“We are in an investigation, let us pass!” he shouted. 

After many encounters with police, he found that phrase being a sure way to let people hear you. Once they made it to the core of the problem, they saw the source of the steam. 

What they found was nothing Todd was familiar with, but once again, that was practically the description of his job. It seemed to be some sort of machine, in blue and grey colours that shone under the scarce rays of light that passed through the clouds. The thing looked like it was spinning for the air that propulsed from the back of it. It was like…

“A pod?” Todd found himself saying out loud.

Dirk had gone further than that and reached to touch the machine.

“Wait,” he stopped him, “you don’t even know what that thing does.”

“Oh c’mon Todd, what’s the worst thing that could happen?” he waved a hand dismissively and getting on Todd’s nerves as he easily always did.

Dirk pressed his hand where the metal swapped to a jet-black colour and retrieved it right after.

“Shit!” he cursed, taking his hand with the other and inspecting it with an angry look. “That thing is boiling hot!”

_ Told you _ , he wanted to say. But his words never came out, because his attention was stolen from the opening of the machine. The black slide lifted and more smoke filled the new air, making them both cough. But a third cough could be heard from the inside, and seconds after that, a man emerged from the fume, grabbing desperately at Dirk’s clothes and tugging to help him stand on his feat. His brown hair was pointing at very different directions, his eyes shooting lost and red looks at practically everything. When he spoke, his voice was husky and a little broken.

“A-Arianna,” he said. And he fell unconscious in Dirk’s arms. He turned to look at Todd with wide eyes, allowing him to take a better look at him.

His face was marked with scars and black stains of grease on bits of his cheeks and forehead. And although he was worn out, gaunt and showing little to no signs of being alive, Todd still recognised him.

He was Hector.

“I think,” Dirk began, looking from Todd to Hector like a scared deer in the woods, “we’ve found the man we were looking for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boooy I have a lot of feelings for this story and everything that is yet to come. If anyone wants to talk about it with me please send me a dm in my tumblr last-holistic-renegade.  
> Hope you're having a good day!!


	6. VI. Cave Hollow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg I've waited so much to post this and now I finally can!!!! I hope that you like it as much as I liked writing it <3

Alright, theoretically speaking, everything was going as it should. They found the guy they were looking for, and according to Farah’s last message, they had found something valuable as well. They had new clues. They found a suspect. Or perhaps an accomplice. He wasn’t sure about that one yet.

However, there was something that interfered severely with the overall success of the situation.

The guy was completely nuts.

All the way from the square to the motel, he had leaned on Todd’s side while he helped him to walk, constantly gibbering about three specific words, one of them being Arianna’s name. No matter how hard they tried to make him stand on his own, he still staggered to one side or the other, being incapable of giving more than one step without being inches away from kissing the floor. Dirk had to listen to the variety of Todd’s complains until they reached the front doors of the motel.

Having past the “Eastern Sun” sign, he opened the heavy wooden door for Hector and Todd to come in, and he was received by the not-so-flattering image Farah Black and Tina Tevetino standing, with their arms crossed, in the middle of the Hall. Their faces didn’t mean any good.

“Where the Hell have you been, guys?” Farah asked giving a step closer to him. “We’ve tried reaching you by phone the whole afternoon and you haven’t answered any of our messages.”

“Well by this point Farah, I assumed you knew Todd wasn’t the type of picking their phone on time, if you know what I mean,” he tried to apologise, letting go of the door as soon as they walked over to where he was.

“Great, what’s your excuse?” She lifted an eyebrow while saying this, making her face a few bits more intimidating.

“No service?” he tried shrugging.

He only got an eye-roll as a response. Making up for Farah’s attitude, Tina put herself in front of her girlfriend, flashing a cocky smile at Dirk as she waved a piece of paper in between her index finger and her thumb.

“Well you missed some of the good stuff, buddy. We found a clue that we _think_ -” her voice went a few octaves higher “-might be very important.” She made an overreacted wink with a big smile, making Dirk suddenly forget about the door he should be holding and letting the energy rush that accompanied any case advance flow through his veins.

“Oh! We found a clue too!” He beamed at her.

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s as good as this. But we’ll see,” she shrugged. Tina smiled over at Farah, who shook her head with fondness. Then, she looked back at Dirk with a proud smirk “Shoot.”

“Alright, we found an ex-employee of the motel who had vanished two days prior to our arrival and that held a pretty close relationship with Arianna, the centre of our investigation.” He tilted his head, frowning a bit. “Or so we like to think. Anyway, he came in a very strange, _smoky_ machine that seems an _awful_ lot like one of those alien pods, despite how much Todd tries to deny it. However, bad side of the story, he seems to be a little crazy, as the only thing he can say are the same two words along with Arianna’s name since we got him to walk here.” Dirk simply watched as they looked at him surprised. “What did you two find?”

Tina took a look at her paper, licked her lips, and looked back up. “Something maybe not as cool as that.”

“Some help over here?” Todd called from the door, trying his best to push it with the dead weight of Hector in his other shoulder.

“Oh, right.” Dirk practically jumped in his place, walking over to hold the door.

Farah and Tina helped Todd to carry Hector to the nearest couch they could find. The man basically collapsed on it, taking a hand to his throat while making husky grunts.

“Are you thirsty?” Farah asked, putting the back of her own hand in his forehead and taking it off immediately with a worried expression. “He’s boiling. Tina, get me a glass of water please.”

“Sure,” she ran in direction to where she thought the kitchen would be. Dirk wondered if she really knew where that was or if the pressure in Farah’s voice made her move out of fear. He betted on the second one.

Farah helped Hector to sit properly on the couch, aiming a few questions at them about how they found him in the first place. As Todd spoke, Dirk loosened his scarf and went to leave it on his bedroom. The second he put it in, a brief _pop_ clicked in the air and Mona sat in its place, tilting her head and swinging her feet in the air.

“Is the big man okay?” she asked with her tiny voice.

“Yes, Mona,” he smiled sadly. “He’ll be alright.”

But Mona frowned, tilting her head to the other side.

“Dirk?” she whispered. “Are _you_ okay?”

He shook his head.

“I’m… worried,” he said, and it felt fine once the words came out. “Not scared, but, worried. I don’t know what’s going to happen, and although Hector’s appearance is a great advance for the case, I can’t help but feel...”

“Afraid?” she offered. And she couldn’t be more right.

Dirk nodded, picking at the end of his jumper’s sleeve with nervous fingers.

“It’ll be fine, Dirk,” Mona smiled sweetly from her place. “You only have to trust.”

“But in what?” he asked, getting tired of guessing what any of those words meant.

But she didn’t answer. Where Mona was just two seconds before now laid a beautiful antique doll with a tiny shepherd's outfit.

Dirk sighed, resigned to ever get a straight answer to that question. When he came back to the Hall, Todd was going through the part where the Hector appeared.

“...and once we got there we saw the strange machine we found him in.”

“The alien pod,” Dirk clarified.

“It was not an alien pod,” Todd glared at him.

“I can’t believe how after having seen and lived what you saw and lived you still are incapable of believing in the existence of Aliens, Todd.”

“It’s more of an attempt to avoid them,” he admitted. “I don’t think it would be good having actual aliens involved in this.”

“Too late for that,” Dirk whispered, but it hadn’t been low enough for Todd not to hear him, if his eyes rolling were anything to go by.

“ _Anyway_ ,” he remarked, “Dirk got him out and he was just like this. He couldn’t talk much, he only said-”

“Arianna.”

It’d been low, almost inaudible if it weren’t for the usual silence that hovered over the Eastern Sun, but the three of them could hear Hector’s voice, still a bit raspy from the disuse, just as Tina walked over with the waited glass of water.

“Here, have this,” she handed it over to him, helping him to swallow it in tiny sips. His face changed a little, getting less pale, and when he spoke again, his voice seemed more alive than before.

“C-cave. Hollow,” he nodded, like if that action took all his effort and meant much more than they could understand. “A-Arianna.”

“Why does he say that?” Farah asked, squatting in front of him.

“Great question, Farah,” Dirk pointed at her, looking from time to time between the two of them. “Sadly, we don’t truly have an answer for it.”

Hector extended a trembling hand towards Farah, who held it trying to catch the meaning of his words.

“Hollow. Cave,” he nodded with big eyes, almost desperate.

“Is that the only thing he can say?” she looked over at Todd, standing by her other side, without letting go of Hector’s hand. “Haven’t he said anything else since you found him?”

“No other word,” he shook his head.

“Are you Hector?” Farah asked him. As she had explained them once, it helped to do this routine when talking to damaged people. Simple questions they could answer without much effort.

“Hollow.”

Farah closed her eyes once and sighed.

“Hector, do you think you can tell us something about you?” she tried with her most delicate voice. It seemed like she was talking to a child.

“Hollow,” he nodded.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she smiled gently. “Can you tell us something about what happened to you? Who did this?”

“C-cave!” He planted an open hand in his chest as he said this, nodding a bit. He looked completely convinced it was the best answer he could offer.

“I don’t think he’s saying the truth,” Dirk offered. “No stone construction could possibly do that to anyone,” he nodded with pressed lips.

“We tried to make him talk or say something else,” Todd said, ignoring Dirk’s comment altogether, “but the guy was very tired, we couldn’t get any words from him.”

“Let me see if I can change that,” Tina said.

She took Farah’s place in front of Hector, holding his head with one hand in the attempt of making him look at her in the eye. He kept saying those two bloody words, in the middle of tired whispers, and Dirk wondered not for the first time what could’ve happened to that man to be in such a terrible state.

“Hi Hector. My name’s Tina. I’d like you to speak to us today, can you do that man?”

“Cave.”

“Can you say something that isn’t cave or hollow?” Farah questioned from above. “Anything useful?”

This earned a disapproving look from Tina, but either way, it didn't work.

“C-cave,” Hector answered, his voice showing a bit of disappointment.

Well, emotions were something.

Tina grabbed Hector’s chin and made him look at her again.

“Dude, let’s try something easy. I’m going to ask you yes or no questions. You only have to say one ‘cave’ for yes and two ‘cave’s for no. Alright?”

“Cave,” he said.

“Um,” Todd looked between him and Tina, “does that mean yes?”

“We’ll see,” she shrugged. “Ok, Hector, erm, do you… know, what happened to you?”

They waited patiently until Hector made up his mind, interpreting the question.

“Cave.”

“Cool,” Tina said, looking at the others for validation. “That’s a start. And, uhh, do they live here?”

“Cave, cave,” he tiredly shook his head, to the rest of the group’s excitement.

“Oh shit, this is working,” Tina grinned. “Alright, now, do you know maybe who did this to you?

Right then, they realised that was _not_ a good question. All the energy he seemed to be lacking until now apparently took over Hector’s body as he impulsed himself towards Tina, repeating with a squeaking voice, and with a frightened tone, those words Dirk had already started to hate.

“Cave hollow, cave hollow!” He said, gripping tightly Tina’s clothes in his fists. His voice escalated as he got closer to her, and the tired look he’d been showing turned into another most hysterical, almost as frantic as the movement of his head to the sides.

This is where Farah intercepted, freeing her girlfriend from the man’s grip and pinning him against the couch.

“I need you to calm down.” Her voice was firm and barely audible above his, who had reached the yelling point. “We can’t help you if you keep doing this!”

He slowly started to lower his movements, along with the rhythm of Farah’s cooing. He let himself be carried by that and laid in the couch with flickering eyelids. Dirk shared a look with Todd. He raised his eyebrows as if saying _‘_ _weird, right?’_ . To which he was responded with a little shrug and a shake of the head that meant _‘_ _what else can we do?’_. Todd always understood his looks, he loved that of their dynamic.

“How did you find him?” Farah asked once they made sure Hector didn’t need further intervention. “I mean, it’s not like we get in the way of alien pods all the time.”

“For the last time, it’s not an alien pod!”

“To be completely honest Todd, I don’t know why you keep trying.” Dirk took the photo out of his pocket where he made sure it didn’t fall in their way to the motel, and handed it over to Farah. “We were looking at that picture when the machine fell.” He pointed at the faded wood sign in the corner, identical to the one that greeted them on the outside of the building. “We wanted to try to figure out where we’d seen that name before.”

Something in Farah’s face changed then, because her expression lit like a lightbulb. She disappeared for a moment only to come back seconds later with something else in her hands.

“This must be what you were thinking of,” she said as she gave the paper to Dirk.

It was the postcard, the one that arrived in the mail with Arianna’s picture. In it, the sloppy handwriting wrote the very same words he’d been struggling with the whole time. He frowned as his eyes got lost on the smudged ink.

It was the name of the motel. It was supposed to be a direction, not a lead as he originally guessed. Then again, the person who wrote it could have been more clear with it. Two words aren’t a certain way to let anyone know the exact place they should go, but you know what they say, live and let live.

However, what was still bugging him was how precise his previous election had been. The way he chose the place they’d be staying for this case was totally unintentional, just a good gut feeling at the sight of the name in the options suggested online. Dirk remembered having thought it was only a feeling of it being right, not a proper hunch. Thinking that that would keep them away from trouble, he selected it as the best choice. Now, he wasn’t so sure of that.

But if the postcard had come from the motel, who sent it in the first place?

“Arianna.”

The voice distracted Dirk from his thoughts, bringing him back to reality where Hector reached his hand at him. Interpreting this in the best possible way, he handed the postcard to the exhausted men who only now had a warm emotion in his eyes. Hector brought the postcard to his chest before pointing at Dirk’s name in the direction.

“Cave?” he asked, and his voice had an expectant tone this time.

“Yes,” Dirk crouched in front of him, having found the answer to his previous question, “we’ve come to help.”

Donna burst into the room with a loud cry, having Hobbs following her right behind.

“Hector, oh my God!” She ran to where he laid down, running cautious hands through his face and torso. “We didn’t know where you were, we were so worried, we… Mum!” she called, “Come quick! Hector’s here!”

-

Amanda narrowed her eyes.

Beast tilted her head, her own multicoloured irises returning the look.

She glared harder, her lips frowning with the unsaid question.

_Where?_

Beast shrugged.

“Agh!” Amanda stood from where she was squatting and kicked the floor. “This is not working.”

They’d been trying to get another direction from her since the moment they woke up. But Beast didn’t seem to be on the same page as them, or perhaps didn’t feel like helping them at the moment. They tried asking nicely, begging her, directly asking her to go somewhere fun, and the latest method, taking it out of her with Amanda’s intimidating stare.

She didn’t know how that didn’t work, it always scared Todd enough to give her the TV remote when they were kids. She must have got rusty over the years.

“Why don’t we try with a vision again?” Zia asked for the fifth time, her arms still crossed as she looked at her with bored eyes.

“Because I don’t think that’d be a good idea,” she answered just like all the other four times.

“But we’d be faster this time.” Zia dropped her arms by her sides, walking over to where Amanda was to make her look up. “You won’t be alone there for so long.”

Yeah, the thing was, she didn’t want to be alone there at all.

The problem that she found with trying again to enter that mental state was that last time they tried, not only she ended up fainting after having the vision, but before that happened, she had to spend a fair time with the Universe trying to talk to her. Or more like trying to _yell_ at her. She couldn’t forget how that buzzing felt, making every part of her soul vibrate to the rhythm of the world’s pleadings, shaking every part of her to her foundations.

He didn’t want to be a part of that again, and Zia knew this. She could see right past her silly excuses. Amanda wondered if that was because of her being too obvious or because of the other woman’s empathic abilities.

“How do we even know if we should find another project?” She raised her eyebrows, daring her. “We already know where to go, why are we wasting time on this?”

“Because we have to,” Diana interfered. “We don’t know if they’re fine, maybe they need help.”

“Or maybe they don’t!” Amanda tried again.

“They do.”

She turned to Dusk, who had remained silent until now. He was glaring at the floor before lifting his eyes to meet hers.

“Even if they don’t think they do, they need help.” He walked a few steps to be closer to her. “I didn’t think I needed to be saved. But I did. When you found me, I was wandering around, barely existing, and I considered that _living_. And this is no different than from what I was doing. I still have no idea what we’re doing now or why do we do it. But we are moving. And we are together. That’s much more than what I could’ve said barely two days ago.”

Amanda hated to admit he was right. But she couldn’t deny the spark that appeared on those leaf green eyes.

“Fine,” she accepted reluctantly, almost spitting the answer. “But you better appear quickly.”

Zia smiled proudly at that.

They set in formation. She was in the middle of the lonely alleyway, standing on her own. Behind her, the Rowdies were prepared to take the pain away to give her the vision, waiting for her sign. On the other end, Dusk stood, hesitating, as the other girls waited to link to her mind next to him.

“Are you sure this is the way to do it?” he repeated once more.

“Yes,” Amanda rolled her eyes. “My powers come from the pain, and inciting a pararibulitis attack would give me the exact amount that I need to See.”

“But what if it doesn’t work?” he frowned worriedly.

“Man, you’re not giving me enough trust now.” She stood with her back straighter, separating her feet to steady herself in case she fell. “Just do it.”

“Alright.”

He still didn’t sound so sure about himself, but extended his arms anyway. And then the fire appeared. The plan was that it would divert right in front of her, so she would only feel the heat of the flames but be completely safe from them. She wasn’t. Amanda could feel not only their heat, but also their burning. They licked through her skin, incinerating it to the point where she began to scream, feeling her exposed flesh twirl under the fire.

The Rowdies took her screaming as the sign they needed and started sucking all the fear and pain away. And then she felt her eyes roll back, about to be taken from her physical form, when another three energies seemed to take her and anchor her to this realm of reality. Amanda knew they were linked, and that their minds were one now. But she still couldn’t See.

 _I need you to focus_ , she told them through her thoughts. _To think of time and the future._ _Help me to See something_.

And Amanda could swear, she felt them close their eyes, join to the force she was using to catch a glimpse of where to go, what to do, who to find.

And then she Saw. But it wasn’t what she had expected.

_Gold. Gold everywhere. In the walls, on the floor, on the steps they were climbing. Green beetles, thousands of them, moving on top of each other, covering all her vision, buzzing loud on her ears. A torch held by a hooded figure, that turned to reveal a tribal mask. When they took it off, there was mud instead of skin._

And then something strange happened. Something had slipped into their visions. She felt it, the intrusion. Not a view from the future, but a ghost of the past.

_Cold, deadly iron on her wrists and ankles. Cries of a baby far too young to understand. A name, yelled into the night. Tears rolling down a little girl’s cheeks. Someone over her, stomping a hand over her mouth._

The connexion broke, and Amanda felt herself fall into the nearest person’s arms. Martin caught her just before she hit the ground, and she silently thanked him with her eyes. But he was too busy looking forward. When Amanda followed his gaze, she saw her too. Diana had crumbled to the floor, shaking to the bone as Astrid and Zia did their best to stop her inconsolable sobs.

She cleared her throat, getting rid of the dryness she felt. “Maybe we need to get a rest.”

“It’ll be the best,” he agreed.

-

Michael hated working there. He felt cheated, tricked, all of it was a big lie.

When he first started working for the government, his family cherished him for it. They said that it would take him places, that their son would be someone important if he got to escalate in the hierarchy system. Obviously that at the time, he didn’t do anything really important. He was just the secretary of the fourth employee from the inner circle of the sub-commandant of Public Services. A crappy job, if he had to be honest. He spent the entire day filling forms and ordering papers so his boss could have the easier or funnier work.

But with time he did reach higher places. Nothing like being the President’s secretary, but at least he had a real desk this time! And that’s when his boss gave him _the offer_. He came up one day, greeting him like every day, and left an untagged file on top of his desk. When Michael asked about it he didn’t even answer, locking himself in his office without further explanations. He thought it was curious. Usually most of the important news or requirements were asked via email, so they couldn’t be lost. So why did this have to be on paper?

The secrecy of it impulsed him to open the folder. There were strange names on it, something about a recently reopened organization that was looking for reliable people to work on it. He read it quickly, barely catching words like _CIA_ , _government’s approval_ and _secret_. But what called his attention was the description of the project.

“ _A division created solely for the purpose of testing and investigating the anomalies that are scattered on our country and beyond.”_

That sounded an awful lot like some NASA work, some research work that involved space and the probability of contact with alien life. And he had always been interested in aliens. Ever since he was a kid and had X-files binge marathons with his father, he’s had a fascination with them. So having the opportunity to get a close look to all these phenomena was not only intriguing but also tempting.

So he accepted the job. He was ordered to firm a secrecy contract that forbade him telling anyone anything that happened inside of the facility. For the rest of the world, he now worked in the White House. And although it wasn’t the sort of news he was expecting to bring home, his parents still found that it was awesome.

And that’s how he got into Blackwing. At first, it’d been pretty cool. He didn’t have a uniform to wear, he got to see important military people coming in and out of the offices. He even was given a board! A personal one! And yeah, the paperwork was a little bit boring, but it his superiors always said that if he worked hard he could get a promotion. And getting a promotion would mean being involved in all the shit they did there. Incredible shit, of course, not the shitty shit he did for his other bosses.

And he did get a promotion. He was Lieutenant now. And that did open his eyes, only not in the way he was expecting. When he first got in, working behind a desk, he had no idea what the real investigation and testing was about. He knew nothing about the procedures the doctors used. He was in the dark about most of the CIA related aspects. Now, he knew _everything_. He knew that the subjects of investigations were humans, not aliens. He knew that Blackwing would do anything to get them in the facility, even kill. He knew they were being tortured, despite how much everyone in there tried to convince him of the contrary, for the sake of science.

And he knew that he could never get out of that place.

He had heard stories, from his co-workers. Stories of people who tried to desert, who tried to quit once they discovered what they were taking part in. None of those stories ended clean and well. He was trapped now, no escape route in sight.

But he discovered how to keep himself sane in there, and it was taking the distance necessary to not be engaged. If he didn’t think about it, he wouldn’t feel guilty. With Riggins that worked fantastically. The guy barely asked anything from him, and it’d been a short period of time that he worked for him. With Friedkin, well, the guy had been a challenge really. But things mostly went smoothly, if he ignored that time where project Icarus dragged him along all Blackwing to get to project Lamia.

But with Adams it was impossible. He had apparently earned the man’s trust because he called him for everything. He even used him to get his ideas out, discussing his plans for the next strategy. And even if he only understood half of what he said, he didn’t like any of it. Every day he was given tasks that include participating in certain parts of the operations inside the facility, mostly to check “everything was going on board”, as Ken had said. But Michael had the mild suspicion that he knew he didn’t want to be there, because every newly assigned task was utterly connected with the projects.

It was sad to see them. They passed one by one through the testing rooms, being asked to prove their abilities in front of an investigation team that did nothing to treat them like normal human beings. They looked like creatures, studied from afar, held in cages until they were needed again. Michael knew that the doctors never mistreated any of them. Hell, he knew most of those guys and they were good people. But whenever they were working, any familiarities that Michael had from them disappeared, their treatment to the projects being cold as an iceberg.

And they suffered. He could see it. A few bruises here and there, stitches going up and down their skin, scars from past punishments being visible with the hospital gown. The worst was the look they got whenever someone mentioned the name of Priest…

“Hey!” Someone called him. “Lieutenant!”

From the nearest room Fletcher, one of the doctors he knew, made him motions to get closer. He was a part of his inner circle inside of Blackwing, someone he knew he could trust.

“Hi Fletch,” he greeted him. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to ask you if you can take care of my work for a second,” he asked leaning against the door frame. “I’m afraid they need me on another room and I can leave this unsupervised.”

Michael gulped. “Uh, yeah, sure, why not?”

“Great, I’ll be right back.”

He walked out down the corridor, and Michael found himself feeling scared of knowing what exactly he was working on. When he opened the door, the other person in the room lifted his head to see him. It was a man, sat in the middle of the room, hugging his legs close to his chest as if wanting to disappear by force. Assistent didn’t know what this test was about, but had the idea it wasn’t pleasant at all.

“Um, hi,” he smiled nervously at him. The man didn’t respond. “uh, Fletcher had to go for a minute so, I’ll be here for a while, um-” He checked the board with his information. There was no name on it, except by the designation the program gave him: Project Echidna. “Sorry, what’s your name?”

The man looked confused by his question. His chestnut eyes scrutinized him from the distance as he slowly sat straighter on the chair.

“Why do you want to know?” His voice was deep, but it sounded hoarse. As if his throat was aching.

“To know how to call you?” Michael answered back. He knew the guy wasn’t used to this, and it hurt a little to remember that.

The silence lasted a few seconds in which Michael started to doubt his decision to engage in conversation with him until the man spoke again. “Kyle.”

“That’s a nice name.”

He was young. Couldn’t be older than twenty-four. Michael wondered if he had a job before this, or if he went to University.

“What do you do here?”

“Excuse me?”

Michael was surprised by the answer. Kyle was inspecting him up and down with his eyes, waiting for his answer. He knew what he wanted to know, what part he was taking in his suffering. He didn’t want anything to do with that, so Michael suspected he wouldn’t like the answer.

“Nothing important,” he dismissed with a shrug. “Just some paperwork.” He illustrated his answer by lifting the papers on his board. “And what do you do?”

He looked confused again, looking at him as if he was stupid.

“What?”

“I mean, what’s your job. Or well, what it was. Before all of this,” he made his finger spin to refer to the facility.

Kyle seemed to relax his back, his muscles being less tense than when Michael first stepped in.

“I was a librarian.”

“Really? What were your favourite books,” Assistent asked while sitting on top of one desk, resting his board on one knee.

“They were all good, to be honest.” Kyle shrugged, smiling a little. “But the Sci-Fi section was the best.”

“Damn, I love that kind of stories!”

“Really?” Kyle snorted.

“Yeah, totally,” Michael nodded enthusiastically. “Alien stories are my favourites though.”

“Please tell me you’re joking,” Kyle threw his body back, closing his eyes with the shake of his head.

“Why? They’re the best!” Assistent heard him chuckle along with him. “I like especially those in which the investigators have to-”

But he was cut off by the sound of someone clearing his throat by the door. Ken Adams stood there, along with his friend Fletcher. He was giving Assistent a very bad look, one that meant ‘we’re going to talk about this later’.

“Mr Morgerson wishes to continue with his investigation, Lieutenant.” He arched an eyebrow at him, “If that’s not a problem to you.”

“No,” he answered, his voice thin and low. “Not at all, Supervisor.”

When they got out, Ken made him a gesture to stay with him. He made him stand with him in front of the window where he could see Fletcher connecting a machine to Kyle’s body.

Ken was silent, which Assistent thought was worse than if he was giving him a lecture on not making conversation with the subjects. He could feel the sermon coming at any time, and it only made him want to run away and hide.

“Do you know why we’re doing all of this, Mr Assistent?” Ken asked, taking him by surprise.

“Uh-”

“And please, save yourself the speech you got from your peers and answer with your own words. We don’t want parrots on here, we need efficient people working for us.”

“I-um, I don’t know, sir,” he mumbled.

“Good. Sometimes we lost track of what we’re doing, and our brains could be tricked into thinking the lies we hear are truths instead. So it’s always good to ask when we’re confused,” Ken smiled at him. Michael tried to return it, but he knew it must’ve seemed more like a grimace. “Back when Friedkin tried to rule this place, he gave me access to old files of the organization. Files from the very beginnings of Blackwing.”

He had turned to look back at the room. Assistent followed his eyes to see that Kyle was no trying to answer the questions Fletcher asked. He didn’t look like he was being successful about it.

“I don’t think anyone read them in a long time,” Ken frowned in thought. “They were very secretly saved after all. It was quite hard to get to them. But do you know what I saw, when I read them?”

“Uh, very nice pictures of the founders?”

“I found the reason,” Ken followed as if Michael had never spoken, his eyes still looking at Fletcher pressing some buttons on the machine. “The reason behind all of this. The reason why we are important.”

“And what was it?” Michael was intrigued.

“The projects,” Ken smiled. “It’s all about the projects. They are indeed human, did you know? Just like it was suspected at the beginning. But their abilities, their _‘superpowers_ ’, as some call them… they are there for a reason too. The Universe where we live in. It works like a very well oiled machine. And as every other machine, it has its controls, the parts that are in charge of taking care of it all. That’s what they are meant to do. Keep the Universe in balance. Keep everything in place. They are the reason why we are still alive.”

“I don’t understand,” he said. It didn’t make sense for him at all. If they were so important, then why did they keep them caged?

“What I mean, Assistent, is that these people are not to be played with. They are essential. They are useful. Perhaps, the world’s most dangerous weapon. If we can get to understand how they work, how they connect with the Universe, imagine what else we can do from there. And in the meantime, they are ours.” Ken turned suddenly, almost making him jump in his place. “Alone, they mean no threat. But together, they can make you the most powerful man in the world.”

He was being serious, but Michael could see the shine of madness in his look, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“That’s why what we’re doing is important.” His eyes returned to the front, where both saw how Kyle, the normal man Assistent had spoken to only fifteen minutes ago, was being electrocuted by Fletcher. “Because whoever has them, controls it all.”

Michael watched him enjoy the so-called ‘experiment’ with eyes full of fear. He didn’t know what he was doing in a place like Blackwing, working for a man like Ken. But he knew that he would never even dare to try to get out.

And he wasn’t sure what was worse.

-

It took a while for the ladies to get used to the concept of having one of their loved ones back, process that involved a handful of tears slipped here and there and a few cries of ‘Thank God!’ to go with them. Having decided they needed their space, the rest of the detecting team moved back to the entrance to discuss the new bits of information they had gathered until now.

“But do you think that’s possible?” Todd asked, throwing a brief glance at the poor man still stuttering in the Hall. “He can barely say a few words, I wouldn’t count with him to write anything besides that.”

“I’m pretty sure,” Dirk nodded. There’d been something in his eyes when the postcard touched his hands. Something that he couldn’t get a grasp on but that vaguely reminded him of hope. “It had to be him.”

Farah followed his glance to where the Denver women kept trying to bring Hector back to a proper state of mind, whether it was with countless glasses of water that started to pile next to the couch or with several strokes on his face and hair.

“Then whatever left him in that state must’ve happened in those two days he went missing,” she muttered to herself, already thinking on the alternatives.

“Sorry to ask, but,” Hobbs popped up from Tina’s shoulder, joining the conversation, “what did exactly this man do?”

“Yeah, I’m trying to keep up but, we’re a little lost in all of this,” Tina gestured at the space between them.

“The case we’re investigating started when we received this on the mail.” Dirk tilted his head at them, prompting Todd to hand them the postcard. “We could say that we were hired by whoever sent it to us, but at that moment, without a sender name, we had _no idea_ whatsoever of who could that possibly be-”

“So you followed the name,” Tina concluded. She tried to explain herself after receiving odd looks from Farah and Todd “Of the motel? Eastern Sun?”

She gave them the postcard back and Dirk saw his friends discovering that yes, in fact, the name of their staying place was right there from the beginning. As well as him, they hadn’t figured at first, which was so unlikely coming from a group of detectives, Dirk thought ashamed.

“Wait.” Todd turned to look at him, clearly confused. “Didn’t you say you picked this place unintentionally?”

“Well, I actually sort of… did?” He wrinkled his nose, not really sure of the veracity of his own words.

“You sort of did?” Farah repeated, raising her eyebrows in disbelief.

And yes, it might seem like he didn’t. But that wasn’t true! He remembered going through the internet to check available places in Wombourne. When he saw the advert with the Trivago page about the old motel, he got suddenly interested in it. He hadn’t even checked the information, even less the price. He only saw the pictures and felt his chest flutter with…

“A hunch.” He admitted defeated. “That’s why I picked it, it had nothing to do with the postcard. It’s just...” he closed his eyes and sighed heavily, “a complete coincidence.”

The others remained silent as he miserably went through thousands of insults in his mind.

“You don’t seem so happy about that,” Tina pointed out.

“Well, you know what I always say.” Dirk opened his eyes again, lifting his arms at the sides of his body. “ _‘Everything is connected’_ and bla bla bla. I was only hoping that _this_ wasn’t the case.”

“But it is,” Farah said, grabbing one of his arms with a serious but worried look. “And we have to focus on that. Alright?”

“Yes,” he sighed. He knew Farah was trying to ground him, and he thanked her for that. “Arianna. Trouble. We need to fix that.”

“Well, then the question is _how_ do we do that?” Todd said next to him.

And just as if she had been waiting for them to ask, Donna cleared her throat, demanding their attention.

“I think Hector is trying to say something to you.”

When they returned to the Hall, they discovered a better version of Hector than the one Dirk and Todd had found nearly an hour ago. He sat upright now, without the need of support helping him to do so. He looked less pale than before, and if any of this wasn’t a good sign of recovery, then the attempts of speaking definitely were.

“P-p,” he had a bit of struggle letting the word out. “P-post-card.”

“Yes,” Farah put it in his hand. “We know you send it.”

He nodded quickly. Then, he put his open hand in his chest.

“Arianna.” This one went out smoothly, as if it was less restrained. Then, he pointed at one word in the postcard in particular. “H-hel-p.”

“He wanted you to help her,” Mrs Denver supplied, helping as an interpreter.

“Is it just me or did that sound a bit better?” Tina suggested. “He said a whole new word again.”

“Is like he can say different things,” Todd agreed. “They’re just a bit stuck. Like, if those three other words were somewhat… programmed, on him?”

“But he’s trying.” Donna put a hand on his shoulder, which Dirk noted wasn’t a good thing for Hobbs’ blank expression.

“No doubt,” Dirk granted, placing a hand on Hector’s knee as a proof. “But, could you try to help us? To help her, that is.”

He nodded excited, clearly agreeing with that. He proceeded then to point to the ground, “N-n-night.”

“Something’s happening tonight,” Hobbs guessed from behind.

Hector nodded with a big smile at his words. And right when they thought they could be going somewhere with this…

“Hollow Cave!” he chanted then. “Hollow Cave, Hollow Cave!”

Todd sighed deeply, “ _Great_. Right to the beginning.”

But Mrs Denver didn’t seem to think so.

“Is something happening on the bridge?” she asked, planting a severe frown on her face.

“When did he say something about a bridge?” Farah wondered out loud for all of them.

“It’s a village thing,” Donna explained. “There’s a bridge, at the other end of the town, that once connected Wombourne with the woods to let the natives go hunting. Since it was populated and renovated, it’s had no use for us.”

“The bridge is completely made of rocks,” Mrs Denver continued. “It is part of one of the mountains. Below it, a stream connects the inside of the mountain with a lake. And with the hole underneath...”

“Oh, it looks like a rock doughnut!” Dirk pointed with his finger and a cheery smile.

His friends looked quite unsatisfied with his response though.

“Or like a hollow cave,” Todd suggested.

“Oh,” he frowned. “Yes, that sounds more like it.”

“So, there’ll be something happening at that bridge,” Farah tried to follow Hector’s train of thought. He nodded from the couch, but before he could speak again, she interrupted him. “You want us to go there.”

He opened his mouth, his eyebrows pulling together, but Mrs Denver spoke before he could make any sound.

“It is a bit far from here.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Farah dismissed, completely ignoring Hector’s second attempt of speaking. “We’ll go with the van, I don’t think there’ll be any problem.”

“Tr-tr-”

“Truck?” Donna said for him. “Yeah, they could go with the truck. Great idea Hector.”

“Then it’s settled,” Dirk joined his hands with a clap. “We’ll go to this cave with a hole as soon as the sun sets!”

-

They decided the group needed to recharge batteries. Martin knew of a place near them where they could get ‘the best food of the state’. Cross knew the location as well, so they voted for him to drive the other vehicle to get there without any complications. Dusk took his place in the van, sitting behind with the boys and Beast. Vogel seemed a little too invested in his guitar, and it was very funny to see the man’s threatening look every time he tried to touch it.

What wasn’t funny at all, was that since she still had to recover from the vision, Amanda was compelled to go and sit on the front. Next to Martin. Martin, who was still avoiding her. Martin, who was still apparently angry at her.

Anyone who didn’t know him for so long as she did would’ve never noticed something was wrong. They would’ve only seen Martin’s usual quiet attitude, his normal resting face, and the common way he silently was part of the action without really taking part on it, only halfway answering to the comments coming from the back and sometimes smiling along with their laughter. But Amanda could see past that. She noticed the light tightness of his features, the lack of the ghost of a smile ever so present. How his eyes didn’t move from a fixed point in the road, when normally he wouldn’t mind turning back to look at his boys. Or even the way he never addressed her in the conversation, whether or not she was taking part of it as well.

Having Marting get angry at you wasn’t one of the best ideas in the world. He was like the father of the group, the Dad Friend who everyone wanted to make proud. Feeling his bad mood being directed at her reminded Amanda of those trips back from school after she got detention where her father wouldn’t speak to her, giving the normal Brotzman’s Silent Treatment. She couldn’t bare seeing that same look of dissatisfaction on Martin’s face.

“Is everything alright?” she asked. Martin barely acknowledged her words. “Are you mad at me or something?”

“What makes you think that?” he said back.

“Uh, I don’t know.” She crossed her arms over her chest, furrowing her brow at him. “Perhaps it’s the fact that you still don’t talk to me even though I am literally next to you?”

He stayed silent.

“Is this because of what I said earlier?” Amanda tried to guess. “Because if that’s what it is and you are mad that I touched the family subject then you should tell me. And yeah, Vogel told me about that little problem you have, and I should say that I am a little offended because you didn’t tell me about it earlier. I would’ve minded my own mouth before I screwed-”

“Do you know how I found the boys?”

She snapped her mouth shut. Not only because he talked to her, but because of what he said. They rarely spoke about those times, and although Gripps had offered her some details about the beginnings of the group, she never got the complete story.

“I was twenty-eight when Gripps first appeared. I almost hit him with the van. He looked lost, wandering around the streets like a stray dog. I brought him in, and he told me that his family kicked him out, sending him away because they thought he was dangerous. He was nineteen at the time.”

He didn’t look at her while he spoke, but she could hear in his voice the remains of a nostalgic feeling. Amanda tried to imagine great, tall and strong Gripps feeling like a little kid, abandoned by his own blood. She didn’t want that image.

“Then Cross came in.” Her eyes went up back to Martin. “He appeared seven years later. When Gripps and I were driving along this very same streets,” he pointed at the road with one finger. “He was covered in bruises, some open wounds still bleeding on his face. His father was a crazy man, drummer. We came just in time to save him.”

Amanda just didn’t want to believe that. Not with Cross. Not with his family…

“And I met Vogel in Blackwing,” he continued. “Little young, angry thing. He wanted to fight everyone and run. As he surely told you, his parents let him get captured. They were scared, and they turn their backs at him.”

Yes, she remembered Vogel telling her that. She just hadn’t thought it went that way. It _couldn’t_ have gone that way.

“They were abandoned, betrayed, hurt, by the ones who call themselves their family. They didn’t have someone to teach them to control their abilities. Ask any other Blackwing kid, none of them ever did.” He turned his face to look at her, turbulent eyes fixing in hers. “I am not mad at you, Drummer. But you had a family that took care of you, who loved you even when you got sick. The little man might be a lot of things but he always-” he briefly closed his eyes, turning them back to the road. “Your brother would go to the end of the world for you.”

Amanda understood then the reason behind his attitude towards her. Martin felt like she was taking it for granted, complaining about a problem that wasn’t a problem at all. She knew that feeling very well. She felt it every time someone complained about their incapability of doing things such as going to the cinema on a date, or going out with friends. All of that was caused by their own laziness or superficial conditions that made it impossible for them to do it when they wanted, which was baffling for her when she couldn’t do it _at all_. But her anger had never been directed at them, it wasn’t their fault. It was aimed at the circumstances.

“I’m sorry,” she said after a minute or so of silence. “I didn’t want you to feel like I was disrespecting you.”

“I didn’t think you-”

“But I felt it that way,” she cut him off, making him shut his mouth. “And I can’t let that happen. We are a team. But if we are going to do this, you need to be clear with me. No more Silent Treatments, if there is a problem, you have to tell me. And we’ll solve it, together.”

Amanda put a hand on his arm, and she saw how his lips twisted upwards as he put his own hand on top of hers.

“Noted,” he nodded.

“Good,” she smiled back, a full grin to compensate for Martin’s composure. “Oh, and what about your family? You haven’t told me about that.”

But he was already shaking his head.

“Sorry Drummer,” Martin glanced over at her as his smile widened. “That’s a story for another day.”

Amanda slumped back on her seat, crossing her arms and settling her lips into a put as Martin chuckled beside her. It was fine if he played hard to get, she was going to get his backstory some day.

-

Tina was going to kill Farah.

Not only she left her on the motel, boring as it was with Hobbs running away every time with the old woman’s daughter. But she also left her in charge of taking care of Hector. The man had got unbearable since they left, claiming their attention every time as he spurred out words that anyone could find the sense to. Tina gave up on the eleventh attempt.

That only left her with Mrs Denver to make her company. She was such a vigorous woman, when she wasn’t sad about her daughter’s disappearance. She moved her hands as she spoke, reminding her of Dirk’s eccentric mannerisms. Her eyes didn’t shine as bright as she would’ve expected, but the easy smile on her face didn’t falter as the words came out of her mouth, which gave her a very nice look. At the moment, she was giving Tina a good story about the motel’s beginnings, turning what normally would be a very boring conversation into one of the most interesting ones Tina ever had, and she had talked with Dirk about talking llamas and living statues playing with salt.

“And then Hector had to lift and cut every log that made the tables and chairs we’re sat in.”

“No way.” She palmed the wooden chair, amazed by the details in the back. Mrs Denver chuckled as her eyes went wide while sliding her fingers through the irregular surface of the table. “This is amazing!”

“It’s a shame that we cover them with tablecloths to keep the style of the whole place,” The woman grinned while resting her chin on one hand.

Tina kept herself from saying the stains and the fallen paper from the walls didn’t really contribute to the aesthetic.

“This is a very impressive place that you’ve got here,” she commented while giving the room another glance over.

This dining room was separated from the entrance by a wall. From there, she could see by her right the view of the woods, where the trees gave enough space for the vans and the police truck where Hobbs and she had traveled. There was a visible free spot from the truck Farah and the guys had taken. From her place, she also got the sight of the receiving desk, where the wall couldn’t block her view. The dining wasn’t a closed room, as it turned into a living room that was filled with the couches, the little tea table, and the library in front of it. Then the kitchen wall, that from her place was covered in paintings that looked cheap and a clock that sounded too loud for her, marked the limits of the rooms, having the bathrooms right in front of it and forming the hallway that would lead to the rooms.

“Yes, it is my biggest pride.” Mrs Denver was also looking around, a self-satisfied grin still on place. “This was my dream when I was young.”

“Really?” Tina straightened herself as she sat back on the chair.

Mrs Denver nodded, “I wanted to work in a hotel when I was a teen. And as I grew up and got married to Shawn, I started building this little project.”

“And where’s your husband?” she asked curiously.

The woman’s smile changed from a happy one into another more nostalgic. “He left us in the middle of the motel’s building,” she explained. “Diabetes.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Tina felt ashamed as she put a hand over her chest.

“No, don’t worry,” she assured her taking Tina’s other hand and shaking it a little. “It stopped hurting long ago. I know he’s present in other ways. Besides, I still have Donna and...” he mood faltered, her eyes going down to the uncovered table, “Ari.”

Tina physically felt the hurt in her words. She knew what it felt to lose someone close to your heart, especially from your own family. When she was younger, her older brother who she admired a lot decided to fuck his life with hard drugs until his heart stopped responding, which devastated Tina to the point where she almost became the same person. It was hard to come back. So she knew what Mrs Denver must be feeling for Arianna’s disappearance. She put her other hand over Mrs Denver’s and looked at her with the most caring look she could offer, transmitting with her eyes her understanding of the situation.

“We will get her,” she assured her. “I promise. These guys are, they are great solving things. Even when it doesn’t seem like it and anything makes sense… it does at the end.” Tina trusted them with her life after all the shit they went through. “We will bring Arianna back.”

Her words were returned with a smile full of gratitude.

Tina felt a tug from her clothes. She turned to see Hector, who apparently got distracted again from the speech exercises that they looked up to help his speaking abilities to go back to normal.

“What now, Hector? I am kinda busy right now.”

He looked at her seriously upset, like he got the children-aimed tone she was using. Then he started making his hands fly around him as he pointed to the place where his truck was supposed to be.

“The truck?” she asked, sitting back to get a glimpse of the road. “What’s wrong with it?”

“G-g-grou-” he stuttered. The nerves made it harder for him to get complete words.

“Ground?” Tina tried to guess, Hector shaking his head heavily at her words. “Grinch? Groroun?”

“What’s a Groroun?” Mrs Denver asked.

“I don’t know, I’m making my bets here,” she shrugged nervously.

Hector left the shaking and tried to make a new attempt.“Gru-group-”

“Group!” Tina guessed, jumping in her seat. “The group, what group?”

“Gu-gy-” he shut his eyes hard before trying again. “Guy-guys.”

“The guys,” Tina frowned. “Oh! Our guys! Yeah, they took the truck, what’s up with it?”

He then started shaking his head again. “No, no, no!”

“No? What are you saying no to? They didn’t have to take the truck?” Another negative. “You didn’t want them to take the truck. _They_ didn’t want to take the truck. Oh!” Tina clapped, “The truck didn’t want them to take it!”

Hector grabbed her hands in a hurry that startled her. He looked her dead in the eyes before stuttering the next words.

“B-b-ad,” he said seriously. “Brid-bridge. B-bad brid-dge.”

“There’s something wrong with the bridge?” Mrs Denver guessed before she could even try to.

Hector nodded at her, and looked back at Tina. “T-r-trouble.”

“Trouble?” She gasped loudly when she realised what he meant. “There’ll be trouble on the bridge. They shouldn’t have gone there. Oh no,” Tina freed herself from Hector’s grasp as she fumbled for her phone, “I’ve got to tell Farah, they need to leave immediately.”

-

The murmur of the car’s tires on the asphalt filled the quiet atmosphere that surrounded him. When Martin asked him to drive their friend’s over to that special place they knew, he thought it would be fun. After all, Diana and he got on very well from the start, and he got to discover that the other girls were just as amazing. But Astrid and Zia fell asleep minutes after they started their trip. Astrid had lied until her head came to rest on Zia’s lap, and the other woman settled for leaning against the door. Diana next to him was awake, but she didn’t seem on the mood for a talk. She was curled on a ball on her seat, her eyes flatly staring at the road before him. Her whole face was contorted with discomfort, even disgust. Cross didn’t like that look, even less in her. He got so used to see the last days usual smirk and eyes shiny with confidence. This wasn’t proper of Diana.

“So,” he cleared his throat to talk for the first time since he turned the car on. “You feeling good?”

She turned to look at him, her expression remaining the same, but didn’t answer until she looked away. “You really have no idea about it, huh?”

“About what?” he frowned.

“The concept of ‘bad timing’,” she offered him a weak imitation of her usual smile. “Because you have it, and it’s a serious case.”

“I see your humour’s back,” he remarked. But the soft chuckle that he got from her died right after he spoke, setting her back to silence.

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, looking for something to break with the uncomfortable tension that settled between them.

Cross didn’t know why she was behaving that way. He remembered the state she was in after Amanda came back from her vision –or better said, after she was _taken out_ from her vision. She wasn’t like the Diana he knew. If her actual state was strange, that one was even stranger. She hadn’t had any of her self-assured pose, or the strength in her actions. She had looked smaller, instead, almost like a child in the arms of her friends. Cross hadn’t liked any of the tears that fell from her eyes, or the way her lower lip trembled as she spoke.

The whole vision reminded him of other times and other people, people that made his guts twist and his shoulders tense.

But his curiosity was so big…

“It was strange, huh?” He was received with silence, so he decided to go on. “What happened with the vision. Drummer rarely gets problems with those.”

Diana didn’t talk. Her eyes were once more settled on the road.

“Did-” he didn’t know if he should ask “-did you see something, on her mind?”

He could practically feel her closing herself, making up her mind to not talk about any of it. But right before he gave up on it all, he heard her voice, low as a whisper, begin to explain.

“It was my fault.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. Cross did her best to seem like a reliable person. “That the vision didn’t work.”

“How?” he asked, noticing that she wasn’t going to keep talking unless prompted.

She was picking at her nails when she spoke again, but her eyes were far from meeting his.

“When we link to other people, we give them strength,” she explained. He wouldn’t be able to hear her if it wasn’t for the immense silence that filled the car. “We share energy with that person, but we also share mind. And they can take from us just as much as we take from them.”

He thought he remembered Martin talking about something like that, back when they were on Blackwing. Whenever they were left alone, before they put them on those awful cages, he would tell Gripps and him what he heard the guards speaking on his tests. Usually it was information about other projects. Maybe project Valkyrie was brought up once or twice.

“When we linked with Amanda,” Diana continued, “helping her to stay in her body, we had the vision as well. It was, weird, to say something. Nothing related to any project for what I could see. But, the energy we were all sharing was too strong...” she dozed off, and Cross wondered if she got lost in thought until her eyes snapped back at him, “I let my guard down. My own memories passed through the link, and the vision ended when I, couldn’t take it anymore.”

“What did you see?” he frowned. What could possibly put her in that state? “Was it Blackwing?”

“Something similar.” Her expression darkened, with what he thought were memories from the past. Cross patiently waited for her to explain. He knew how it felt to have a bad childhood. “I wasn’t born in the U.S. I am from Guatemala.”

He felt his lips curl at the corners. “You’re Latin?”

“Yeah.” She weakly returned the smile. “You too?”

“Puerto Rico,” he nodded. “But I can’t really remember it. Too long ago”

“I can remember my hometown.” Diana’s look tinted with nostalgia. “I lived there until I was nine. Then We came to the States, but, they didn’t exactly let us pass.”

Oh. Cross understood now. When his father and he came to New Mexico, leaving his mother behind, he explained to him why they were so lucky. Not everyone from Latinamerica could make it to the United States. Some of them were stopped at the border, taken apart for an investigation that would last a long time. Some of them, never returned.

“They separated us then. My sister and I went to one sector, my parent to another. That was the last time I saw them.” Her hands clenched into fists on her lap. “It was pretty much like Blackwing. We were held in cages, the two of us with other kids. They barely gave us food, sometimes not even water.”

“Yeah, I get you. But, there weren’t tests,” he shrugged, not knowing if that was better or worse.

Judging by her face of disgust, it was worse. “Not like the ones in Blackwing, no. But, they did ask us things, things that we couldn’t know. They tried to do the impossible for us to answer what they wanted us to say. And they didn’t hesitate on using force.”

Cross could perfectly imagine how that must’ve been. And it hurt him to know that after going through that, Diana had to get in and out of a place like Blackwing, where nobody could ever leave as sanely as they got in.

“My sister died there,” her voice broke, sounding unstable. “I tried to escape after that, with my… abilities. And then Blackwing found me.” Diana sighed deeply, sinking in her seat. “I try not to think about that place anymore. But, it was so sudden, so...”

Cross knew. It happened every once in a while. Sometimes, when he was feeling just fine, living as happy as he could be, the memories came back, whispering in his ear or shouting from inside his brain. And they were always impossible to shut down, never really disappearing until you paid them full attention.

He understood what she was going through, so she wanted to distract her from those thoughts. Give her something else to assimilate.

“When I came to the states,” he began, “my father and I got a job.”

He noticed her looking up at him. “What kind of job?”

“We were mechanics,” he smiled proudly. “I was a little guy when we put up our place. Dad brought cars and gears, and tools… we fixed them all.”

Cross saw the glimpse of a smile on Diana’s face.

“Did you fix cars too?”

“’Course I did!” he answered, faking being offended. This caused her smile to widen. “Built my own car when I was fourteen.”

“And you drove it?” she asked.

“Yeah, fast as a torpedo. You wanna see?”

“Show me,” she smirked, and that was slightly similar to the Diana that he knew.

So he grabbed tighter the steering wheel and pushed the accelerator to the floor, passing the van where he heard the Rowdies cheering for him. In the back, the girls woke up at the first jump the car gave, cursing under their breaths at Cross’s driving skills.

“Wait, how do you know where we’re going?” Diana asked mid-laughter.

“Martin brought me to this place when he rescued me!” He could already see the place getting closer to them. “Do you want to see a trick?”

“Go for it, tiger!”

Cross accelerated to get to the building in question, and then made the car spin several times with one tire fixed in place. Astrid seemed to enjoy his little twist, different from Zia who was grabbing from every place she could to avoid being launched out of the car. By his side, Diana laughed loudly, like the roar of a lion, careless about the short strands of hair that flew to her face, hitting her several times. She looked unworried, and Cross wanted her to keep being that way.

When he finally stopped, having caught the van coming at them as well, Zia instantly got off from the vehicle, loudly complaining about not letting him close to the driver’s seat ever again. Astrid followed her right after, jumping on her back and accusing her of not having fun. Diana breathed heavily on her seat, with a hand hovering over the door’s handle and with a glow in his eyes that made Cross unable to look away.

“Enjoyed the ride?”

She laughed again, punching his shoulder with her free hand. “Sure, cowboy.”

“Wanna repeat it?”

“Probably,” she smirked at him, her normal attitude fully coming back. “We’ll see with time.”

And as she got off the car, walking over to where her friends kept bickering, Cross felt a proud feeling bubbling in his chest.

-

Dirk always thought that the best part of being a detective was being undercover. Hiding at plain sight, disappear right in front of others, be invisible for foreign eyes. Ironically, that has never been the strongest point of his career. But according to Farah’s plan, they were going to accomplish it tonight, because if Farah planned it, it was more likely to end up working than not.

What Dirk had not anticipated was how _boring_ it would be. It turns out that being undercover this time also meant being silent, which came with a bit of staying still as well. He already hated it.

The bridge in question was a bit far from the town. And with the roads being covered in white snow it took them a fair hour to get there. The construction was placed at the point where the mountain turned into land, just as Mrs Denver told them. They could hear the murmur of water rolling of beneath the ground. The lake began only some metres apart from the bridge, extending its long body of water until the next mountains on the other shore. These rose towering, extending their white pointy tops at the clear sky with thousands of stars on it.

Their steps resonated in the dusted stone as they walked to the opposite side of the bridge. There, the tall bushes provided an excellent hiding spot. It was a little higher from the ground, forming part of the mountains itself. They had to take special care on not moving too much to avoid falling down through the inclined hill. Farah had parked the truck more into the woods, to make sure that it wasn’t visible for anyone that might come that night. They sat on the floor, behind the plants, waiting for whatever Hector wanted them to see.

He was in the middle, between Farah, who was messaging Tina to see how things were going in the motel, and Todd. He was looking up at the countless stars above their heads, his arms loosely hugging his bent legs. He looked pensive.

“Are you alright?” Dirk asked him out of impulse.

Todd turned at him, and he realised that his eyes looked more grey than blue in the shadows.

“Yeah, I’m just thinking.” He turned his eyes to the mountains now, but Dirk kept looking at his profile. “I’m having a bad feeling about this whole thing.”

“I thought I was the one having the hunches.”

“You know what I mean,” he said playfully while pushing his shoulder. But then his face settled on a serious expression. “I just wanna know. Understand, what happened to them. Where they went. Why, principally. And, well, how to get them back.”

Dirk nodded. He felt the exact same way. They needed to get answers.

Riley’s face, with tears in her eyes, came to his mind.

“We _have_ to get them back,” he said then. “All of them. Arianna. Riley’s mum. We must.”

Todd nodded again. But then he frowned, curiosity invading his face. “Dirk, I know I’m not supposed to ask...”

“Cut it.”

“What?” Todd asked, genuinely confused.

“All of that careful crap.” He noticed this wasn’t the first time he tried to start a bad conversation while walking on eggshells. And honestly, he was tired of it. “You keep trying to keep me safe from my own emotions, asking if I want to talk about it. I don’t, and I never will. But you ask because you’re worried. And because you’re my friend. You _don’t have_ to ask for permission to help me.”

Todd had always appreciated his honesty, Dirk knew that. And he hated having to be careful from screwing something up too. So when he sighed, Dirk knew he had taken an unpleasant weight off his shoulders, and that he appreciated it.

“Alright,” he said, biting his lip. “Cool. Then, what happened that day?”

“Well, you should be more specific about it though,” Dirk snorted.

But he wasn’t being funny.

“On Riley’s house.” Oh. “I know something happened to you. I wanted to know what.”

Farah seemed to be suddenly interested in the conversation. Dirk felt a knot beginning to take form in his throat. He was right, he didn’t want to talk about that. Not now, not ever. But Todd’s voice hadn’t been accusing, he wasn’t trying to judge him in any way. He was only trying to understand what distressed his friend, and Dirk always knew that at some point, the conversation would have to happen.

He just cursed at the Universe for choosing _that_ day.

“It was her mother. Or well, the way she talked about her.” He could still see her, and his heart shrank inside his chest. “She looked… lost. Trying to find in us the answers to the questions no one wanted to hear.”

They stayed silent, but Dirk felt good nonetheless. He felt accompanied by them, no longer wanting to hide that.

“I just couldn’t help but wonder how that would feel.”

Todd frowned. “How _what_ must feel? I mean, you do have a mother, right?”

He saw on the corner of his eye how Farah shot him a pointed look. A ‘watch your mouth, Brotzman’ look, but he didn’t really mind. He only didn’t know how to start to open up.

“Do you know how I got into Blackwing?”

Silence. But a different, heavier one, with the weights of his past taking the air down.

“I was a child when it started. No more than seven years. I had these… feelings, telling me what to do. My dad, I can’t even remember him. He wasn’t at home that often, I think. But my mum… she was always there. Always with me. That’s what I can remember. That and her red hair.”

That was the only legit thing he remembered. Soft, red strands of hair. The rest was a mix of vague memories and probable imagination. He thinks she had clear eyes. Were they green or blue? He didn’t know for sure. Perhaps the ghost of a laugh. But it had been so long ago, and after a lot of experiments that totally ruined any memory before them...

He didn’t even know her voice.

“I was good at finding things. One time, I found ten cats that went missing on our neighbourhood. I think I made it to the newspapers,” he said quite proudly. But then his smile faltered. “That’s when they came.”

He remembered the voices, the looks of a much younger man than the one he knew. He hadn’t known it back then, but those footsteps would remain in his mind forever.

“At first, they tried to negotiate. Riggins came and talked to my mum, talked to me. He said it would be best for me to learn how to control this… power.” He said the word as if it was venom, because that was what it represented to him. “But that meant going away, and neither of us wanted that.”

“And what did they do?” Farah asked in a whisper. He figured she feared to break the silence.

“They went away,” he frowned, already feeling the known claws ripping his chest. “Until five years later, when they brought Priest.”

He remembered that too. The screaming, the cries for help, the blood that soaked his striped socks. The silence. The worst silence he had memory of. And that doomed smile, the one that would invade three decades of nightmares.

“I think that made it into the newspapers too. Or at least I hope it did. Because then, someone besides me would remember it as it was: a murder. _They_ had a different name for it,” he recalled. “They called it the ‘Diamond Incident’. I never knew why, but Priest loved to mention it, all the time.”

A chill went down his spine, and he didn’t know if it was for the weather or the memory of his laugh.

“And that showed me the last piece I needed to figure out that they, they never really cared. None of them. Someone in there sat down, wrote the entire story, detail by detail, and kept it in a file. Like some sort of… medical thing. They treated it as a simple slip in their history, a stain in their trajectory. But to me it was different. They were my parents. They were my family.”

His eyes were so welled up he could barely distinguish the green blurry stains in his sight from the original bushes. He blinked, and the tears rolled down his cheek. Farah next to him stretched her hand, hesitating, before rubbing his arm.

“Dirk, you shouldn’t, have gone through that. I swear I’ll do anything in my power to not let that happen again. Ever, in any way. We-”

But she was cut by the buzzing of her phone. He saw Tina’s contact picture on the screen.

“I-I’m sorry. I have to… It might be important.”

He nodded, completely understanding, and she stood up before walking a few steps away. He turned to Todd then, Todd who had been silent for the whole story. And now he understood why.

He looked furious.

It almost scared Dirk seeing him like that. His knuckles were completely white, fists closed with such a strength that made his veins pop out under his skin. His jaw was clenched and his lips pursed. He was ready to punch someone, Dirk knew it.

But when his eyes looked at Dirk, they softened, no harshness in sight.

“That was unfair,” he said, lightly moving his head to both sides. “I know that’s obvious, but I feel like I should say it.”

Todd sighed, his shoulders falling with it. He looked away at first, but then his eyes returned to Dirk’s, and if he had to say the truth, he never thought having seen a more honest look coming from Todd than now.

“I know this, is, hard for you. I mean, I can see it. And I know that we can’t do anything about it too. I wish we could-if maybe-” he licked his lips, starting again. “We can’t change what happened. But, I know you want someone to take care of you. To, I don’t know, support you? We can do that. And we will. I swear, if I see one of those guys shows up ever again they won’t get out walking,” he snorted. And Dirk allowed himself to chuckle with him. “We’ll do whatever it takes. Farah knows that, I know that. Because… we might not be them, but we are your family now.”

Dirk was speechless. Or at least in the outside. In the inside, he felt a wave of love pouring out of his heart. He looked at Todd and he wanted to say a lot of things, things he’d never said out loud before because anyone ever gave him the chance. Words no one else ever cared to _hear_.

But all of that was happening on his mind, and outside of it, he noticed Todd’s growing nervousness for his silence.

“Or, or maybe not. We can be whoever you want, need, anything. Maybe it was a bit invasive,” he laughed with an uneasy smile. “Perhaps very good friends it’s better?”

“No,” he finally reacted, practically jumping in his place. “No, family… family it’s perfect.”

Todd visibly relaxed, and smiled. His usual smile this time. Dirk ducked his head, hesitating, but before letting himself think it twice, he threw himself over Todd, wrapping his arms tightly around his shoulders.

“Thank you,” he murmured, hiding his face in Todd’s coat. “For everything, you, you truly are-”

“I know,” he said, embracing him as well. “I know.”

And of course he did.

Dirk felt good hugging him. Todd had always been great at giving hugs. Every time, Dirk felt like each part of him fit perfectly with Todd. The way his arms found the perfect spot around his shoulders. That special place in Todd’s neck where Dirk could fit his face and feel it fitting like a puzzle piece. How Todd’s own arms wrapped around the small of his back and felt so in place. Yes, his hugs were perfect. But this time it was better. He felt cared, sure that Todd actually wanted him to be there. He felt safe, convinced that nothing could happen to him there.

He felt loved, certain that the other person felt just as much as he did.

And everything was just so _right_.

But he couldn’t give that sensation a second thought, because Farah came from her express call with serious news that mattered a little more than Dirk’s sudden curiosity.

“Guys, we gotta go,” she whispered a little too loudly. “Tina said there’d be trouble, we shouldn’t have come here, we need to-”

But it was too late. From both sides of the bridge, they heard two big groups of footsteps approaching.

-

Bart didn’t visit her that often. Not after what Ken did. It was weird, Tessa thought, how quickly she got attached to her. They only talked for a short time, but it was enough for the woman to get through Tessa’s cold exterior and into her heart.

There’d been a time where it wasn't like that. A time where she welcomed people into her life without thinking it twice. A time where she actually had people around.

But as she told Bart, life wasn’t so good with her. Most of her memories had been marked by death, since the departure of her mother after giving birth to her to the departure of her brother. Kind, strong, protective Dallas Stenberg. He had always believed in her, protected her from all evil as he could with his few ten years of life. Only two years older than Tess, he always did his best to surround her with love. Or that was until she made it all end. Because no one that stayed around her for so long could avoid Death. Her father had done well in running away. At least he got the chance to live.

Ever since Dallas died, her life consisted on that, watching people die, be about to be murdered, or find their rotten corpses. Wherever she went, someone had to die. Her presence was poisonous, infecting the air and selecting her new victim. If she had to bet, she’d say her ‘powers’ were the worst of all the projects.

She lived running, scared of anyone finding her and their end with it. She escaped from people, pushing them away or going against them so no one would get hurt. That’s why when Blackwing found her she was relieved, almost happy that they were taking her somewhere safe. Not for her, but for everyone else.

But Tessa was tired of running. Tired of losing. She wasn’t going to let this push another person away from her, even less when they seemed to be completely unaffected by her condition.

She wasn’t going to lose anyone else.

-

The ground vibrated beneath their feet with the two groups coming from both ends of the bridge. Todd’s heart hammered against his chest, although if it was for his fight-or-flight response or something else, he couldn’t tell. He disentangled himself from Dirk, both going to hide with Farah further into the bushes. They made a little gap between the vegetation to take a look at what was happening around them.

From one end, right where they came from, the weight was lighter. Todd guessed there weren’t many people, because their steps sounded a lot less heavy than the others. The second group, however, seemed to have more members, since their sounds resembled more of a military march as he could remember from the parades from his youth.

“What are we going to do?” Dirk hissed between gritted teeth.

“For now, closing our mouths,” Farah whispered back behind them, with a ton less of fear in her tone. “Let me think of something and try to see if you catch anything from this.”

Dirk squeezed himself against Todd trying to get a peek at the presumable sight. Todd completely ignored the way his breath hitched.

After what felt like hours, the footsteps came to the bridge, bringing with them the source of their noise. Coming out of the woods, Todd caught the sight of a varied group of people. They differed in size, colour, gender, and age. However, Todd distinguished a few features he thought having seen before. He knew these people, and he knew them very well after spending hours looking at their pictures and listening to their relatives.

“Isn’t that Riley’s mum?” Dirk asked, pointing with his finger at the woman that seemed to be directing the group.

Todd couldn’t figure out the colour of her eyes in the darkness, and the shadows made her light brown hair look darker than her daughter’s. But he could notice the way her narrowed nose bent up at the end, just like Riley’s. And taking the scary determination of her stare, her face had a similar structure to the child’s.

He turned to the other side when he felt Dirk’s tug at his coat. He narrowed his eyes at him first, silently asking what the deal was. But he felt his frown deepen as soon as he saw what Dirk was pointing at. In the other end, coming from the village, a big group of toddler s stood, with a threatening pose, looking up and down at the adults in front of them. They couldn’t be older than five, some of them even still wearing nothing more than diapers and little knitted shoes.

Dirk and he shared a look that clearly expressed _‘what the fuck?’_.

Riley’s mum gave a step forward, as well as a small kid with a Spider-Man t-shirt.

“What took you so long, Gargaan?” she asked, glaring at the boy a few metres away. Her voice was venomous as she addressed the child.

“We were merely preparing ourselves, Vonerah,” the kid answered, and Todd almost choked with his own breath. “We didn’t want to risk being ambushed by you and your dirty tricks.”

“ _Did that kid just talk?!_ ” Dirk whispered while he violently pulled from Todd’s sleeve. He shut him up by putting a hand over his mouth.

“Wouldn’t even dream of it,” the woman smirked in a way that looked both dangerous and playful. Almost cocky. “Now, where’s the girl?”

“I’m sorry to say we don’t have an answer to your requirement, old friend,” the kid gave another step forward, sharp look almost threatening his counterpart to contradict him. “I’d love to ask you the same thing. Aren’t you sure one of your own officials hasn’t captured her? Because you know, you can’t trust a Slythren for the most basic tasks.”

“You better watch your words, Gargaan,” the woman threatened, danger barely grasping her words. “Or this could end in awful ways for both of us.”

Watching them felt like a game, Todd realised. It looked like having both of the teams in front of him, teasing each other through quick and hateful comments that didn’t lack any remorse on what they said. They were playing dirty, dancing around the other with the promise of biting back. Looking at the rest of the group, he could feel the tension bubbling in the air, ready to explode with the first shot.

“Do I have to remind you who betrayed whom on first place?” the child twisted his expression with disgust as he scowled. “Who took Pollock first to make them disappear before-”

“Enough,” she interrupted him, just as Todd turned to look at Dirk for a clue about what was being said. The detective kept looking intently without taking his eyes from the scene. “We’re not here to talk about him. We’re here to talk about Nariaan and where you’re keeping her from us.”

“We’re not keeping anyone from anyone, you dumb _daibazal_!” he imploded, but gathered himself together before speaking again. “You should have thought better before calling for a meeting here, so close to your precious place.”

“We only thought it would be nice to solve this in a disciplined way,” she answered in a diplomatic tone, almost respectful. Until the sneaky smirk pulled from her lips, “Only if you can keep up.”

This seemed to crisp the boy’s nerves as well as his little army’s. Todd didn’t know why children felt so angry about being called undisciplined but it must have been a soft nerve for this guys. Dirk leaned closer, and Todd managed to put a hand in his shoulder and shake his head to prevent him from falling from the tilted ground.

“You made a mistake, Vonerah,” the kid known as Gargaan growled, claiming their attention back. It sounded wild, treacherous, almost animal-like. When he spoke again, it was slow, playful. He was clearly enjoying himself. “We already took over this little town. What do you think is preventing us from setting it off in a massive explosion that destroys it all?”

Todd felt a shiver run down his spine, and he thought feeling Dirk shake next to him. He leaned over again, ignoring Todd’s arm keeping him in place. The woman that lead the adults’ group looked a little taken aback too, eyes widening a fraction before recomposing herself, hiding under a built mask of indifference. But it was too late. He had caught her, and the little boy too.

“But you don’t want that, right?” he flashed a crooked smile. “Because you’re looking for him there. The human, the one with the lead?” _Hector_ , Todd thought. Dirk moved closer to the bush, frown all set with renovated curiosity, his foot dangerously close to the edge of the ground.“Yeah, we know he’s here. And we are going to find him, and we’ll kill him right in the spot, burning bone by bone, if you don’t come now and just tell us where is Ya-”

Todd almost felt how Dirk’s feet slipped, rolling down to the stone ground and taking Todd with him. He also heard Farah’s curse as she attempted to get a hold on them but failing as she was carried too by their weight. They interrupted the encounter as they fell hard on the ground, lifting the dust and getting all the eyes on them.

“Shit,” Dirk whispered from the floor, snapping his eyes shut.


	7. VII. Children Kidnappers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was actually part of the last one, but given the length of the sixth chapter I was forced to divide it on two and ush if I wasn't waiting to post this one, it's my favourite part so far XD  
> I hope you enjoy it <3

Todd rushed to lift them from the ground to keep the last ounces of dignity they still had. He felt how tens of pairs of eyes fixed in them from both sides, whispering at the same time they threw them looks of disgust and distrust.

“So that’s how you’ll play, huh?” the kid on the front crossed his arms over his chest, lifting an eyebrow at them, until his gaze turned drastically to Riley’s mum in the other end. “Bringing surprises to our meetings, Vonerah? You thought you could trick us with a surprise attack outside of the village?"

“Cut it, Gargaan,” she answered, wrinkling her nose as her face settled on a bothered expression. “How do we know they aren’t some of your spies trying to infiltrate our troops?”

“Oh c’mon!” vociferated one of the children from the back, sounding like a man whose life consisted of alcohol and cigarettes. “Our bodies couldn’t have a vessel like those even if we tried!”

“I don’t know, one of them looks short enough for me.”

“Hey, I’ve heard that!” Todd gave a step forward, deeply offended, but a firm hand and a threatening look from Farah held him on place. Then she turned to the other groups with a solemn pose.

“We’re not from either of your sides,” she explained, although Todd noticed how instead of dissipating the tension, her words only provoked more heated whispers. “But who’s the princess you were talking about?”

“Do you know her?” a little girl asked, although her voice sounded deeper than Todd’s.

“No,” Dirk answered, squinting his eyes at her as he came out from behind Todd’s back. “Do you?” The way he stood reminded him of their first exchange together, the day he met Farah on that bridge.

“Where’s Arianna?” Todd asked, going to the point of their intrusion.

“Who’s Arianna?” he heard someone mutter from his left.

“Aren’t you Riley’s mum?” Todd asked back, but the woman in question only frowned with confusion at his words.

“Do we know any Riley?” another kid mumbled.

“Seriously, am I really the only one disturbed by the group of infants who talk like a 20 something person?” Dirk squeaked, pointing at them with his eyebrows drawn together.

“What are you doing here, then?” asked another adult with exasperation in his voice.

“Nothing,” Dirk straightened himself then, trying to sound normal, deciding next to throw a suspicious look that Todd knew for sure was merely to pretend. “And you?”

The guy didn’t seem to like that answer though, as he rolled his eyes and spoke to the apparent leader of his group, “Can I shoot him now?”

“No one’s shooting anyone,” Farah warned, her hand hovering over the gun in her belt. “I’m so going to kill Hector for this,” she whispered through gritted teeth then.

But it wasn’t low enough, as one of the kids got to hear her and started to jump on his place, calling his teammates attention. “They know the Hector human!” he yelled. “Fire!”

And Todd soon found himself in the middle of a shooting from both sides aimed at his head. Almost by instinct, he grabbed Dirk by the shoulder, throwing him back, at the same time Farah put herself in front of them and covered them shooting back with her own gun. The three of them started to walk backward to the bushes that would serve them as shields. 

Todd noticed as he hid in the vegetation how strange the other weapons were. And his life had been threatened by many weird weapons, giant scissors and electric rhinos among them. But these were way different. For once, the people they believed were disappeared held guns very similar to the one on Farah’s hands, but although he heard their sounds, he couldn’t see the bullets. The only detectable thing was a green wave of energy and a scorching effect on every part of the ground or the plants that it touched. Yeah, Todd definitely wanted to stay away from that. And the children on the other side seemed to be attacking them with baby toys.

No, literally, he had actually seen some of them holding pacifiers with lasers coming out of them. Others had what looked like very good imitations of the Nerf guns, bright colours and all. But instead of foam rubber projectiles, they shot little darts, like the one that landed right next to Todd’s hand, apparently full of poison that blackened the surface they were stuck in.

“How did they even get one of those?” he asked as he fell on his back to avoid the next charge of lasers and darts. Farah fully avoided his question, too busy looking for an escape route as she kept shooting their attackers. Dirk, on the other hand, was huddled behind the bushes, covering his head with both arms and occasionally squeaking when anything flew too close to him. 

“I don’t know, Todd,” the detective claimed after dodging another green blast. “Have we missed any murderous toyshop in our way here?”

They were being attacked from every flank, and with every chance he got to look, Todd saw them getting closer. Farah was bravely defending them, keeping them all in their places to give them an opportunity to run, doing her best to get them some time to think how they could escape that terrible situation.

That is, until she cursed and put the gun back in her holster.

“No no no no, you’re putting your gun down, why are you putting your gun down?” he asked, drawing Dirk’s attention to her movement as well.

“I ran out of bullets,” she spat through gritted teeth, throwing a last glance above the bushes to see that their attackers were torn between fighting them and fighting each other. “We’ll need to run to the truck.”

“Why do you say it like if it was easy?” Dirk inquired, letting himself be helped by Todd’s hand to get up and walk in squats towards the forest. “This is terribly bad,” he huffed.

They slid past the arguing groups and onto the trees that covered them better than the bushes, and once they got there, they started to run. Todd tried to avoid thinking about the fact that he was still holding Dirk’s wrist. It seemed their new friends discovered their absence as well, because over the sound of their heavy breathing and their strong steps on compact snow, he could already hear their infuriated voices ordering their capture.

They ran moving the tree branches apart. Many times they almost ripped their heads off. They jumped the surfacing roots as well. They seemed to be mocking them, trying to make them trip over. Dirk almost fell once, about to take Todd down with him if it weren’t for his sense of equilibrium that appeared on the verge of danger. 

The air was sharp around them, digging daggers on his exposed skin with every move he made. Todd felt his lungs burning as well as the inside of his nose for the sharp intakes of oxygen. All this race was taking its toll on his unused body. Without the light of the moon, their path was drowned in darkness, except by the flashlight of Farah’s phone signing the path ahead. Todd could only locate their friends by the sound of their breathing and the touch of Dirk’s wrist, still wrapped by his own hand. He was afraid of losing them in the depths of the forest, incapable of calling for each other without risking being found by the new bad guys. Todd never thought his biggest fear would ever be a group of infants, but it seems that’s how the Universe wanted it. The fast pulse in Dirk’s wrist told him he was thinking something similar as well.

Just when he was about to curse Farah for parking too far, they got a glimpse of the bottle green colour of the truck with the inscription ‘Hector Reparations’ written on its side. Once they got to it Farah and Dirk got in first, but just as he was about to follow his friends he stopped right on his tracks, remembering something that made him want to hit himself against the hood of the vehicle.

“Wait, I gotta get something.”

“What?” Dirk asked from the inside, holding him in place with his worried look. “What are you talking about?”

“It’ll be fast,” he assured, talking to Farah then, “Turn the engine on.”

He went to the back of the truck and opened its trunk. From a mess of tubes and varying tools, Todd took the airgun he’d taken as a souvenir from their case on Bersberg. He had hidden it thinking it might come in handy if things got a little complicated. Of course, he hadn’t expected them to be  _this_ complicated. Perhaps he had to stop trusting blindly Farah’s ability to save their asses whenever they got into trouble during their investigations.

“Not to pressure you or anything,” Dirk’s head popped up from inside the truck, “but if you could hurry before the rude villagers found us that’d be lovely.”

“I’m on my way,” he said, but he stopped when he heard a weird shuffle coming from the top of the truck. He frowned, trying to distinguish what was producing the sound. It was like little knocks on the metal.

He couldn’t see what it was. The movements were too fast and the squeaks too loud, but when the thing threw itself at him from the top Todd didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. The blast of air catapulted a six-year-old boy against the open door of the truck. Dirk, who had seen it all with wide eyes now frowned at the frozen figure of Todd.

“Couldn’t you have done that before?!”

He was about to reply when an angrier voice spoke before him, “I found them!”

Todd got into the truck, taking the child with him, and closed the door just in time for another blow of energy to impact on the metal. Then he witnessed the most dangerous U-turn he’d ever thought Farah capable of.

“Why are we coming back?” Dirk asked, suddenly worried about the direction they were taking. “The bad guys are right there,” he pointed ahead.

“There’s no other way for the vehicle to fit,” Farah explained, making sure everything was on place before fiercely looking to the men gathering on front of them, “Todd, cover us.”

“Copied,” he said, passing the child to Dirk.

“Are you giving _me_ the dangerous child? That’s not pretty wise from you,” his friend objected. Todd saw how his eyes filled with terror as he awkwardly held the kid on place.

“It’ll be fine,” Todd smirked, rolling the window down. “You’ll understand each other.”

He got enough time to see Dirk’s glare before Farah accelerated. The group cornering them spread to the sides of the road when they saw the white lights approaching. As they passed by, Todd shot them with the airgun, trying to keep them from following the truck right away. Farah drove recklessly through the forest, not caring about the small rocks or branches that hit the front of the vehicle. She didn’t even hesitate when they reached the bridge, almost rolling over the remaining people on the mostly isolated path.

“Damn it,” Todd sighed loudly as he let himself fall on his seat. “Is this a good moment to say what the ever living _fuck_ was that?”

“Wouldn’t count on it yet,” Dirk shrugged, clicking his tongue, although he still looked a little distressed about having one of their attackers on his arms. “Although we were really close to not counting it at all.”

“But it’s over, right?” Farah asked with a doubtful tone, looking at them without taking her eyes from the road. It wasn’t snowing, but it didn’t make the way through the mountain any less dangerous. “They can’t follow us now.”

“You’re probably right,” he turned to look at her with an easy smile. “It’s not like they have any way to keep up with- Man!” Dirk screamed, pointing at Farah’s window.

A guy with dirty blonde hair was pointing at them with his gun. Todd recognised him as the man who wanted to shoot Dirk earlier. He was standing on a weird sort of vehicle, one he thought having seen before with towers of smoke coming out of it.

Todd handed the airgun to Farah, who without driving off the path shot straight at him. The window shattered when she did so, throwing pieces of glass at his face as well. The guy fell from the vehicle, missing the shot entirely. It landed on the top of the truck instead, that suffered a dent that would surely have scratched the paint.

“Wasn’t that the machine where we found Hector?” Todd looked at Dirk, whose eyebrows had knitted together by that vision.

“They must have been the ones to capture him,” he guessed, returning the look. Todd could see the gears working on his brain. 

“But why did they do that?,” he frowned, “They disappeared before, and now they take him in?”

“Well, I’d say they’re pretty appeared to me, Todd-”

“Guys?” Farah called. Todd looked at the rear-view mirror. Many of the same machines floated over them, pointing with their weapons in direction to the truck.

“How the-?” He couldn’t finish his sentence before a flash of energy hit them from above, sinking the roof over their heads.

Todd took the airgun from Farah’s hand and returned the fire, throwing the flying pods off balance with the waves of air. Farah accelerated at Dirk’s command, and it got harder for Todd to hit their persecutors as they started going farther and farther from them. He guessed that at some point they lost them, because he could no longer hear their shooting attempts above the sound of the tires running through the frozen streets.

The way back felt shorter than their first trip to the bridge. Perhaps it was for the effervescent feeling of adrenaline that ran now through his veins, perhaps it was for the possibility of being captured by the subjects of their investigation and criminals from kindergarten.

Once they saw the motel Farah stomped her foot on the brake. They got off, carrying all the weapons and the child, back to the inside of the building, and closed the heavy doors right behind them, feeling short of breath. Judging by the silence outside the entrance, they hadn’t been followed.

Dirk slid down to the floor, back still pressed to the door, and set the kid on the floor before going completely limp. Todd, who was holding the door with his shoulder, followed him with his side still pressed against the wood. Farah next to them rested her weigh on her forearms, pressing her forehead on the door in between her hands, her whole body relaxing at the lack of danger.

They were all panting, and Todd remembered how much he missed this rush of excitement that came with their cases, even if he could pass entirely the imminent danger.

“So,” Dirk barely whispered, looking sideways at Todd with the tired imitation of a proud smile, “are you ready for a second run?”

Todd simply groaned and lifted a hand to push Dirk’s head to the other side.

“Oh my God, they came back!” Todd heard Hobbs’ voice coming from the inside, shortly being followed by several footsteps.

Suddenly they were met with the vision of their friends, who were visibly worried about them. Tina embraced Farah in a big hug, breaking it seconds later to run worried hands over her in look for any wounds. Mrs. Denver went straight to Dirk, going for a more delicate approach but with the same care that Tina’s voice conveyed. Todd noticed the glow in Dirk’s eyes when she asked him if he was alright. Donna crouched next to him, asking him if he felt okay, to which he answered with a soundless nod. She seemed to understand, because there were no more questions aside from the hand that helped him to stand up. He saw Hector standing a few feet apart from them, but eyeing in their direction with obvious worry. Hobbs was hovering over the three of them, doing his self-assigned job of making sure everyone was pretty much alive and safe. Then his eyes landed on the kid that laid next to Dirk.

“Why is there a child with you?” he frowned at them, profoundly concerned. “You didn’t become children kidnappers, right?”

“Oh no, that’s just one of our main suspects,” Dirk explained taking him up again. “Now if you please, someone should probably tie the infant man before he wakes up.”

“Large story,” Todd offered at the group of confused looks they got.

* * *

The famous place Martin had referred to earlier was very similar to an abandoned gas station. From outside, the red chapped paint of the walls didn’t give it a good look, and the blinking fluorescent tube lights didn’t help to contribute to a nice image. It looked more in decadence than up and running.

They passed the sliding crystal doors, and the inside wasn’t more promising than what they’ve already seen. There were a few aisles with canned or packaged food as well as some fruits, anything you could buy quickly for a road trip. She also saw a few display shelves with tourist’s crap, such as CDs from old opera singers, out-dated movies and plastic sunglasses that looked like cheap imitations of bigger brands. Close to the entrance, there was a desk where a middle-aged man with a very thick mustache, reading a teen’s magazine, looking visibly bored and not even a little affected by their presence. Coming from the depths of the store, Astrid could hear the buzzing of the fridges.

“Didn’t you say no one would disturb us on this place?” Zia asked at Martin, who smirked at the almost empty place with crossed arms.

“And no one will,” he granted with a nod of the head.

“What about him?” Diana pointed at the man by their right. “Isn’t he going to talk later?”

“Oh no, he’s just Greg,” Cross smiled knowingly. “He never talks.”

From the desk, Greg welcomed him with lazy gestures of his hands, gestures that Astrid could barely interpret as something more than simple motions. 

“You see?” Cross showed with his golf stick. “He’s hilarious!”

“No way, dude!” Dusk walked over to the desk, not even startling Greg as he did so. “He’s speaking ASL!” And then he proceeded to enthusiastically do another pair of signs, which were received with new, less excited motions. “Yeah, we’re safe here. He says he’s seen enough shit to be alarmed by now.”

That was enough for them to disperse over the shop. Dusk stayed at the receiver, continuing his talk with the reluctant shop owner. The rest of the group went separate ways through the aisles with the excuse of finding what they wanted to eat. Of course, it didn’t last long until they diverted from their original idea. Astrid had a few Oreo packages as well as a peanut butter jar as she looked through the many sunglasses, trying on every item that seemed acceptable. She knew for what she’d seen last that Diana and Cross were playing with the oranges, competing to see if they could catch them in the air. Vogel and Beast were balancing CDs on top of Martin’s head, testing how many they could pile until they fell. And for some reason that Astrid definitely had to figure out, Amanda had convinced Zia of playing bowling with canned soups and water bottles. 

Yeah, maybe they got a  _little_ distracted.

From the small mirror on the display, Astrid saw the reflection of Gripps coming behind her. She turned around to see him, charged to the neck with Diet Coke cans and some packs of Popsicle.

“What a combination you have there,” she appreciated taking the sunglasses off. 

“It’s been a long time since I had these,” he excused himself. She noticed only then that he had an arm hidden behind his back, just when he was taking it back to the front. “I wanted to give you something.”

She saw the silver object in his hand and stopped any movement.

“Where did you find that?” Astrid took it in her own hands, inspecting it curiously.

“Greg has some stuff like that behind his desk.” Gripps threw his thumb over his shoulder, where she saw the technology hung on the wall. “It’s not much but...”

Astrid lowered the digital camera to smile at him, and before giving him the chance to say something else she wrapped him in her arms.

“It’s perfect,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

“You wanna go and take some pictures?” She could hear the smile in his voice.

“Heck yeah.”

The first ones were of Zia and Amanda, being them the ones closest to them. She got good shots of Amanda’s celebration dance, with a mildly upset Zia in the background. Then she got another of Zia looking smugly at her over her shoulder as the other girl was practically fuming. They cackled when they saw the pic taken second later where Zia looked somewhat flustered when Amanda got dangerously close. And then there was an accidental pic of them running from them, the angered face of Zia sneaking at the corner of the image. 

Their next targets were Martin, who by now balanced twenty-seven CDs and movie’s on top of his head (Astrid had to thank Gripps for informing her so fast). Vogel and Beast asked to participate, showing their thumbs up as they posed in front of the oldest Rowdy, who still kept an incredible equilibrium that Astrid was honestly envying. Gripps wanted to be a part of it and asked to appear on the next photo, and it would’ve been a perfect picture if it weren’t for the fact that he knocked the pile down with his arm.

They hid behind the aisles then, with much effort from Gripps, to try and get some images of Diana and Cross. And she did get some good shots, featuring vary mid-air catches and proud smirks, but Astrid had to put her camera down when she saw how their silly game developed. Cross was currently trying to keep Diana from getting the last orange of their pile. He put his arm up far enough so she couldn’t touch it, making her jump to attempt taking it out of his hand. Diana raised her arms as well to increase her chances, but that made her completely unaware of where her feet were going. Cross just moved around her, keeping his arm as stretched as he could, simply following her moves. They moved together until Diana’s hip hit an aisle, making Cross impact his chest against her and lower his arm. They were close, incredibly so that they stopped the bickering, just staring into each other’s eyes. Astrid took the picture then, right before Diana stole the orange back and walked away with a subtle blush on her brown skin.

It was a good picture, Astrid realised when she showed it to Gripps. And Diana was probably going to kill her for it, seeing how Cross had to take a second before getting back to his normal self, it was totally worth it.

* * *

With the help of many glasses of water to calm them down, they managed to tell everything that happened that night while Hobbs put some ropes around the small body. Donna brought them a chair from the kitchen that they took to the hall, right in front of the large sofa. They sat scattered on the different couches until they finished telling their story.

“So, let me see if I got this right.” Tina raised a finger as she sat with her back straightened. “You were attacked. On that bridge. By the people you are investigating. And a group of kinder kids?”

“Some of them could be in elementary school,” Todd felt the need to explain as the heat rose up his neck.

“Are you sure about what you saw?” Donna was standing next to the armchair where Hector was sat, and she eyed them as she lifted a side of her mouth and wrinkled her nose. “I mean, maybe they were other people and you confused them on the darkness. You’ve been looking for them so hard that perhaps you wanted to believe they were them.”

“Oh no, we are sure about it,” Todd nodded quickly. “We saw, um, do you know a child called Riley?”

“Blonde hair, brown eyes and like, this tall,” Dirk signed stretching his hand parallel to the floor but at a very low level to be true.

Mrs Denver seemed to get the idea though.

“Riley Hershell?” she asked with her eyebrows furrowed. 

“Yes.” Todd was sure her surname appeared on the contact list from the flyer. “Her mum was there, and, she was the one leading the group.”

“But that’s impossible,” Donna said again, crossing her arms over her chest. “She had disappeared, just like the others.”

“Believe me, they were very appeared when they shot us with their guns,” Farah said with a bit of remorse in her voice.

“These guys deal with impossible most of the time,” Hobbs explained to her, and Todd didn’t miss the way his voice softened, leaving clear he didn’t want to offend her. “This could sound crazy but it might be real as well.”

“Like the talking children?” she raised an eyebrow in disbelief, although there wasn’t any spite in her tone when she spoke to him.

“Yeah I’m, uh, a bit confused about that too,” Tina pointed at her from where she was cross-legged on the floor.

“I see where the confusion might come from, but I assure you it’s a lot more, easy than you’d think,” Dirk offered nonchalantly. “Just imagine really short people, like dwarves or gnomes, but with very gravelly voices.”

She still didn’t look convinced.

“And with poisonous darts?” Donna added.

“Yeah, said like that it’s even hard _for me_ to believe it,” Todd agreed with her. “And I almost got killed by that.”

“And you took one of them with you?” Mrs Denver looked at their hostage, still unconscious on the chair. 

He looked like a normal kid, now that he wasn’t trying to jump on top of him. He had thin orange hair slightly covering his forehead, some stray strands tickling his eyes. His skin was really pale, even more than Dirk’s. Little orange freckles interrupted the lot of white though, scattered across his cheeks, the bridge of his nose and on his bare arms. He also thought having seen a shining coming from his trapped hands, but it disappeared seconds later.

“That was a bit of an accident,” Dirk excused them with a quick look on Todd’s direction. “Not on our plans at all.”

“It still looks hard to believe,” Donna conceded.

A rough voice coming from their left draw their attention to it, “Seeing is believing, baby.”

“Holy cow!” Hobbs exclaimed, almost falling from his seat.

The kid was awake now, looking at them all with a smug expression. He looked a bit too cocky for being tied to a chair, Todd thought.

“He, he just talked,” Tina pointed at him. “Like, a small, little child, he just talked like a grown-up person.”

“Do you like it, sweetheart?” the child asked.

“Hey,” Farah stood up, her hand about to take her gun again. “Behave.”

“Oh don’t worry sweetie,” he dismissed with a tilt of the head. “She’s too tall for my liking anyway.”

Donna just kept staring at it with wide eyes and an expression that Todd recognised from every person that got caught in the thread of their investigations, and expression that he once had.

“Insane, right?” Dirk asked with a proud smile. Todd knew he loved when he had the knowledge of the situation. He said it made him feel like he was on the right path.

The kid’s eyes landed on Todd then, and his face changed completely from arrogant to angered in one second. 

“You!” He fought against the ropes, as if trying to free himself. “You’re the one who hit me with the door!”

All the eyes turned to him then, and Todd felt a weird sense of guilt stirring inside. 

“He attacked me first,” he excused himself.

“You’re the _Slendrens_ that attacked us on the bridge?” The kid demanded, still fighting with himself. But Hobbs had assured them that he would never untie the knot, not after he made use of his Scout Boy knowledge.

Hector stood up from his seat upon hearing the name. He looked at the kid with eyes filled with mild fear and caution.

“T-th-them!” He pointed at the kid with a shaky hand.

“The Slendrens?” Farah asked with a frown.

Hector gave her quick frantic nods before placing an open hand in his chest.

“G-got. Me,” he stuttered.

“They were the people who captured you?” Farah’s frown deepened. Hector nodded frantically at her, putting more space between him and the child as if he could take him away with only one look.

“That would explain the similar machines,” Todd offered. “The vehicles they used to follow us were exactly like the one we found Hector trapped in.”

“So you really had the human with you, huh?” the kid snorted. “Oh my Greatness, they’re gonna be really angry.”

“Why does he say it like that?” Everyone turned to Tina, still looking perplexed at the kid. “He says the word human as if it was another especie.”

“Because it is,” Dirk stood up, eyes glued to the child’s pleased face. “For him, at least. He is not a human. He’s an alien.”

Todd opened his mouth to complain when the kid laughed.

“Ding dong, pretty boy.”

“Wait, an alien?” Todd furrowed his eyebrows. 

He saw Dirk’s growing smile when he turned to look at Todd, satisfied eyes practically daring him to contradict him now.  Farah adopted a careful look instead, moving with caution until she was standing right in front of the child.

“Who are you?” she asked. “We want the whole story.”

“What makes you think I’ll talk that easy?” He dared her with his look. Todd already knew that that was a dangerous move.

Farah grabbed her weapon and took the safety off. “I’m the one with the gun. Choose your next words wisely.”

Tina silently cheered for her behind her back, mouthing ‘That’s my girlfriend’, for what Todd could guess. The kid, now an alien as it seems, flickered his tongue with disgust before starting to speak.

“My name is Tikao. And I am, indeed, from the planet Venus,” he said reluctantly.

“The rest for your group was like you too,” Dirk pressed, but it wasn’t even a question. He knew it was true, and it showed on his face. He was practically glowing. “You are using children as disguise to be here and not draw everyone’s attention.”

“Turns out your stupid offspring is the perfect vessels for our bodies.”

“You’re that short in reality?” Todd lifted an eyebrow.

“Hey, you’re not that tall either, dumbass,” Tikao frowned at him. Todd returned the gesture.

“What are you doing here?” Farah questioned then, putting the gun closer to bring him back to the important subject.

Tikao wrinkled his nose at her. “We’re hunting,” he claimed, and the way he said it made a chill run down Todd’s spine. “Princess Nariaan is somewhere in this place, and we are going to find her before the Slendrens do.”

“The guys who got our friend?” Tina asked. Hector was slightly trembling behind. Todd figured this wasn’t a nice subject to speak on his presence. “Who are them?”

“They’re the disappeared,” Dirk said, a bit too loud for the threatening tone of the conversation they were having. You could hear the smile in his voice. His eyes were stuck on the red carpet covering the floor, moving quickly though the pattern as his mind raced to catch some thoughts. “The people your leader was talking with, right?”

Tikao clicked his tongue. “Yeah, Gargaan can be a little extra sometimes. Hey, this guy is good,” he spoke to the rest now. “You should give him a medal.”

“Having another hunch, Dirk?” Hobbs asked, and Todd could see the way he almost flinched at that word, but his smile didn’t falter at all, he had to grant him that.

“I suppose that’d be correct.” He looked at the alien now, who looked nothing but amused by the situation. “They are looking for the princess too, weren’t they? That’s why they took Hector with them, to see if he knew where she was.”

“She must be very important to them if they started kidnapping people,” Farah guessed from her lower place. 

“But it’s not your people’s princess.” Todd was happy to say he remembered something they heard on the exchange between the groups. Dirk’s enthusiasm was starting to get to him. “You were looking for her in revenge for uh, what was their name?”

“Prince Pollock,” Tikao nodded, looking down at his moving hands. It seemed like there was something between them, but Todd couldn’t really see what it was. “Yeah, that was a dirty move. But they’re gonna pay for it.” His voice didn’t lack the tone that denoted his huge ego, but it had a few drops of poison as well.

“There’s something I still don’t understand,” Donna said from behind them. She was looking pensively at Tikao, eyes almost narrowed in thought. “If they’re looking for a princess from Venus, why are our people with them? What do they have to do with all of this?”

But the alien simply smiled at this. “Sorry honey. There’s only much I can say.”

Hobs was stroking his chin with his thumb in a thoughtful expression. “Could they be aliens that had been living here all this time?” he offered, but Farah was already shaking his head at that.

“That’d be impossible. They got here in different ages, some of them even were teenagers. The numbers simply don’t match,” Farah explained, begrudgingly putting her gun back in place now that they couldn’t get more from Tikao. “They couldn’t have been here all at the same time.”

“Besides if they’re the ones who took Hector he already told us they didn’t live here,” Todd reminded them. His words were seconded by Hector’s encouraging nods.

“So they may have taken them to be part of their troops,” Tina suggested, raising an eyebrow at the rest as she extended her hands in front of her. “Like, they knew the town after all, right?”

“Then Ari must be with them,” Mrs Denver said, and Todd could swear that at that moment, everyone stopped breathing.

“Um, Mrs Denver,” he started, slightly tripping over his words but trying to make use of all the compassion in his body. “We hadn’t-uh… she wasn’t exactly, there.”

But she shook her head, incapable of believing it.

“No, she must be. She _has_ to be. Where else could she have gone to?”

The lady walked towards Tikao then, and she kneeled before him, almost begging him with her eyes.

“Please, little man,” she pleaded. “Do you know of any girl called Arianna from there?”

The woman tried by showing him a picture of her, but they knew she wasn’t going to get any positive answer from him. For the first time in the night, they saw Tikao’s arrogant facade fall, letting a look of pity take over his expression with a sympathy that Todd only believed the humans were capable of.

“I’m sorry, Miss,” he shook his head, “but I don’t think I have.”

She froze in her place, and Donna had to take her to her room before they could hear the sobs coming from the hallway. It was sad to see her broke that way, so different from the first joyful woman that greeted them on their first day.

“Maybe,” Dirk cleared her throat. “Maybe we should leave it for today.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” he sighed, running a hand through his face as the other rested on his hip.

“But someone has to take a look at the alien,” Tina pointed at him.

“Hey!” he protested. “I don’t need anyone to babysit me.”

But Farah looked more than pleased to contradict him.

“We should make groups,” she smiled, and Todd saw a flicker of cunning in her eyes. “Tina and I will take the first round tonight.”

The deputy pressed her lips together as she bent her extended arm back to her in a motion of celebration. Farah tried to suppress the smile that already took over her face with her arms crossed over her chest. Todd just snorted. She was clearly trying to look annoyed at her but her true feelings were showing.

“Um, Donna and I could take the next turn?” Hobbs offered, almost asking. A light blush covered his cheeks. “If that’s alright with you?”

“Oh, completely,” Dirk nodded in agreement. “We might even leave you alone for longer if you please.”

Now the sheriff’s face looked like a tomato. “What are you trying to imply?”

“Don’t worry Hobbs,” Tina teased as they laughed. “Your secret is safe with us.”

On their way to the dorms, Todd dared to look at Dirk beside him. He was walking with his head down, eyes fixed to the floor, but the small smile that pulled the corners of his lips was too obvious.

Todd snorted before pushing him with the shoulder. “Be careful, you don’t want Donna to catch you with that smile.”

He chuckled at that, shoving his hands on the pockets of his coat. “Sorry, it’s just… things are starting to make sense.”

“They do?” Todd frowned, but he felt his own lips twisting as well,

Dirk lifted his head, tilting it to the side. “Well, I suppose we don’t have anything clear yet,” Todd laughed, “but it’s better than where we started.”

“I suppose,” Todd shrugged.

“And I _told_ you there were aliens involved,” he said giving quick pats on his shoulder. Honestly, Todd saw it coming. “You need to stop being so skeptical about my very professional deduction powers.”

“Oh shut up,” he laughed, rolling his eyes.

They reached their respective dorms, but neither of them entered right away. Todd shifted nervously, looking back at Dirk who was standing on the entrance as well, doubting between saying something or going inside. Todd was hoping for him to chose the former.

“I,” he began, not quite meeting his eyes, “I missed this. Not the _murder-y_ part, of course. But, the _detective-esque_ part, instead.”

“Yeah, I did too.” Todd remembered the feeling of his heart beating hard against his chest as they ran through the forest. “It was good being back on the job.”

“Yes!” Dirk grinned. “And it was good having you there, as well. Just like before.”

Todd thought he could hear his heartbeat rising, and for a short second he feared Dirk could hear it too.

“I feel,” Dirk chuckled, and Todd felt something tugging from his heart when he saw how softly he smiled, “like things are going to be right, for once.”

And Todd found himself returning the smirk. “You know what?” he frowned slightly as Dirk looked back at him. “I think that too.”

* * *

When the doors of her room opened, Tessa almost expected to see Bart’s strange smile, but she was heavily disappointed when the person who entered was just another Blackwing employee. Although this one was different from the usual buff men who came to check she was ready for testing. He was pretty lanky. If Tessa tried hard enough, she could free herself from his grip pretty quickly. The man avoided her look at all cost, looking down and ducking his head to not stablish visual contact. And he didn’t even touch it. He just at the end of her bed, close enough so she could hear him but with the height of the furniture setting them apart.

“Uh, hi,” he greeted shyly. “My name is, Michael Assistent. Nice to meet you.”

She frowned. What was going on?

“Who are you?” Tessa narrowed his eyes at him from the floor, hugging her legs closer to her chest. 

He looked confused. “I, I just said-”

“No,” she interrupted. “You said what’s your name. I meant who are you _on here_.”

“I am a Lieutenant.” Michael threw her a nervous smile, but Tessa didn’t respond. 

“And what are you doing on this room?” Her voice sounded a lot more scared than she intended, but he didn’t look affected by that.

“We could say I’m, being punished,” the Lieutenant answered, still looking down. “My superiors think I need more um, grounding, about why we do what we’re doing.” He sighed, and Tess could see his shoulders slouching. “And I suppose telling you this isn’t exactly what they would want.”

That took a chuckle out of her, causing him to smile. She supposed he wasn’t that bad.

“Aren’t you worried they might hear you on the recording?” Tessa adventured with a small lopsided smile. But the man shook his head, daring an amused look at her.

“They are soundless videos,” he explained. “As long as I don’t do anything suspicious they’ve got orders of not interfering.”

“And what do you think so far?” 

She didn’t know what she expected. The question came out of her easily, as if that was the right thing to say. But he didn’t seem mad about it. Michael simply shrugged, pressing his lips together and tilting his head. 

“You’re a person. Very much like all the other projects. And very less intimidating than others,” he added with wide eyes.

Tessa felt like she needed to suppress the laugh that rose up her throat. Perhaps having a person of high rank on their side could be helpful. The guy must have a lot of information that she would die to know. 

For example…

“Do you know what happened to Bart these last days?”

“Oh, Project Marzanna?” Tessa nodded. “Well, since she was caught wandering around the facility against the Supervisor’s wishes, she’s been held in the room they’ve assigned her with the, uh, Punishment Program.”

“The Punishment Program?”

Tessa didn’t like how that sounded.

“Yes, that’s uh, since we can’t harm her in any physical way, all of this under Adams orders, they decided to, well, not feed her for a long time.”

“They’re starving her?” She propelled herself from the wall. They couldn’t do that, not to her. Not when it wasn’t her fault.

“The Supervisor says it might help them for further testing,” he supplied sadly.

“But she doesn’t deserve it,” Tessa complained falling again on the wall. 

“I don’t think any of you deserve that kind of treatment.”

“But she’s incredible,” she insisted.

“And intimidating,” Michael added, but his words held no spite.

Tessa snorted. “Yeah, I suppose you can say that at the beginning. But she’s really sweet when you meet her.”

How could that Supervisor order something like that? Especially since Bart was her supposed favourite…

She remembered how Bart acted when they were caught on that hallway. She didn’t look scared when the uniformed men appeared. If not, she seemed to have everything in control, as if she knew no one could contradict her on there. Even more when Adams appeared. She had looked at him in the eye, and Tess noticed how confused she was when he asked her to obey their orders instead of the others following hers. 

“Do you know what sort of… relationship, Marzanna and the Supervisor have?” 

The curiosity was picking at her from the insides, begging her to seek an answer to that mystery. The Lieutenant thought about it for a second before his eyebrows shoot upwards on his forehead.

“Oh you mean about the rumours.” He looked up at the camera before sitting on the floor. From that angle, his face would be hidden in the recording, making it impossible for them to figure out what he was saying. “Well, most of it is true. They did know each other before he reached that position. In fact, they were sort of friends before all of this? That’s how Ken got into Blackwing, he was brought in when the last Supervisor captured Marzanna.”

They were… friends. Tessa remembered Bart saying something like that the first day they met. But Tess wasn’t paying attention at that moment, not really. And later, she decided to take it as a way to say she was his preferred subject. But if that’s not what she meant, if what this man was telling her was the truth, then it made even less sense in her head. 

“But… if they were friends, how can he…?”

“I’m not sure,” he shook his head. “But I can tell you, that man is nuts. I wouldn’t trust any word that came out of his mouth if he wasn’t my boss.”

Tessa knew she was trapped. Tessa knew nothing could save her there anymore. But now she didn’t only fear for herself. She feared for Bart as well.

* * *

_Hide. That was all she had said. He didn’t remember her saying it, but he knew that was the only thing he had to do. Either that, or being caught by_ them _. And the least he wanted was being anywhere close to_ them _._

_Svlad had slid under his bed, seeking the safety that the wooden floor provided. He put a small hand over his mouth, trying to keep him from making any breathing sound, and stayed completely still. He tried to hear what was happening downstairs. He heard his parents voices, his mother shouting loudly at the stranger that arrived that night. He also heard the mandatory voice of his father, claiming something he couldn’t quite hear but that surely sounded very important. There was another voice as well, one that he couldn’t figure through the thick floor but that spoke a lot more calmly than his parents._

_At some point they must have threatened them with calling the police. He knew they’d done it before, and it hadn’t been nice. His parents were yelling now, something about how they didn’t have any right, that it was their family, and that they should back off if they didn’t want them to call their superiors._

_Then, the door shut. Svlad heard the calmed voices of his parents, and he sighed with relief, letting out all the tension he’d been holding. But before he could get out of his hiding spot, the door was open again. Someone had kicked it to get in by the smashing sound from downstairs. Svlad frowned, unsure of what was going on._

_And then it started. At first it was a low murmur, slightly covered by his parent’s complains. But then the murmur turned into a buzzing he could hardly ignore. His father was the one he heard first, screaming with an agony that sent chills all over Svlad’s spine. He opened his eyes wildly as the pleads from his mother reached his ears. There was no need to keep himself from breathing, because the air had stuck inside his throat. The pleadings were rising in pitch, until they could barely be distinguished from legit cries for help, full of a horror that cut through Svlad’s bones._

_They screamed. Svlad could hear their suffering. They screamed. His eyes began to tear up when he heard his mother yell his name. They screamed. He wanted it to stop, he wanted everything to stop. They screamed. Svlad could no longer hold the tears back._

_They stopped._

_Silence. Horrible, confusing, utterly disgusting silence. Svlad tried to suffocate the sound of his sobs as he heard slow steps coming up the stairs. He saw military boots, covered with a thick, dark substance he didn’t want to identify._

_A hand slid under the bed, and Svlad started to beg, pulling back as it clasped his arm like a claw and pulled to get him out. He cried as the man made him go down, but the sounds died on his throat as soon as he put a foot on the ground. The first thing he felt, was how his socks got wet. He looked down to where the fabric was being tinted with a dark red, similar to the wine someone used to drink during dinners, although he wasn’t sure who they were. Then, he saw the corpses. Limp, still, quiet. Dead. There were no sounds besides from the boots of the stranger and the cries that bubbled in his throat._

_The man pulled from him then, making him face him for the first time. Cold dead eyes looked back at him, and a slow smile that made his body start to tremble._

“ _Oh Svlad,” he purred, voice dangerously promising. “C’mon. It’s time to go home.”_

_He cried._

_He yelled._

_He screamed._

He was screaming. Or at least he had screamed, judging by the roughness of his throat. He identified the familiar sweat covering his torso that did nothing to help him keep his body heat. The clammy hands that were reaching for the bedside table lamp were as unsuccessful. Before he could make a sound break through the hoarse bubble of unspilled tears growing in his throat, he heard the door swing open. 

“Dirk? Are you okay?” Todd was next to him in a matter of seconds.

Dirk choked out a sob, and it didn’t take long for Todd to notice what had happened.

“Hey.” Dirk felt his hands running up and down his back. They were firm. They were steady. All of what he needed at the moment. “Hey, it’s alright.”

“I- He-” he tried to talk, but he couldn’t make it past the first words that he felt himself cry back again.

“Shhh,” Todd’s voice was low, barely a whisper in Dirk’s ear. “Don’t talk. Let it out, you’re alright.”

Dirk held to him like dear life. He wrapped his arms tightly around him, taking handfuls of his loose shirt to try and let all the anger and fear out with the uncontrollable sobs that left his mouth. He cried, right in his arms, probably staining with tears Todd’s t-shirt as he hid his face on his shoulder. But Todd didn’t care. He was whispering soothing words, calmly stroking his back and giving Dirk the reassurance he knew he needed in that exact moment.

He didn’t know how much time passed, but at some point he stopped crying, and his face went to find a place in the crook of Todd’s neck. He had moved closer as well, resting his temple against the back of Dirk’s head, holding him close to keep all his pieces together.

He pulled back once he calmed down. The sight that welcomed him was one he had gotten used to by now, despite how sad that sounded. Todd was sat in front of him, eyes barely open, with a worried look in his face that definitely needed more rest than it was getting. Dirk was almost ashamed that he was there with him instead of sleeping in his room.

Almost.

“D’you feel better now?” he asked, his voice being a little husky now that he noticed.

“Yeah,” Dirk nodded, but his response was low enough to be qualified as a hum. “It was, a bad nightmare. I- I saw, it must be for telling the story earlier. Made me remember-”

“Hey,” Todd put a hand on his shoulder, making him look at him. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say it, I don’t need to know. We can talk about it later.”

Dirk nodded again, and he felt himself breathe again. He felt so grateful for that.

“Why were you awake?” Dirk asked with a frown.

Todd shrugged with one shoulder, “Had to take the pararibulitis pills. I heard you and came to check.”

He hummed in response. Tired, Dirk looked up front, focusing on the details of the small indents in the door instead of his friends face. Todd eyed him from head to toes before sighing.

“Well, I think I should leave you to, you know, sleep and stuff,” he said as he got up from the bed.

Dirk felt himself panic then, eyes widening as he grabbed Todd by the wrist before he could properly stand up. He couldn’t go now, not when the shadows were still threatening to eat him alive.

“But-” the sound of his voice was enough to make him stop in his tracks, “-if you could stay that’d be… great.”

He was waiting for Todd to retreat back. Even after a year, and as every time that he woke up in the middle of the night after a horrible nightmare interrupted his sleep, he was waiting for Todd to excuse himself, saying that he wanted to go and sleep. But he didn’t do any of that. Instead, he smiled and sat next to Dirk at the end of the bed.

Dirk felt so lucky of being friends with Todd. Of course, he loved Farah, and Amanda, and Mona. Heavens, he was even starting to tolerate a lot more the Rowdy 3. But Todd… he was different. There was something about him that clicked with Dirk in every aspect. Even though there were certain parts of him that drove him mad (and that he knew there were a lot of parts on him that managed to push all of Todd’s buttons) he couldn’t have asked for a better person to take part of his life.

They simply talked, about Farah and Tina, about the way Hobbs looked completely smitten with Donna and how she was a little into him as well. They talked about the case, and what were Dirk’s favourite theories about it. Anything to keep him away from the dark thoughts that lurked in the corners of the room. And not-so-surprisingly, it worked fantastically, removing the tightness that kept him from breathing normally until he could feel mostly normal again.

“I still don’t get how we manage to get into all of this stuff,” Todd rolled his eyes at the ceiling.

Somehow during their conversation they decided to lay down instead of sitting there. Todd laying on his back, one arm thrown over his chest as the other spread on the mattress. Dirk was propped up on his elbow, his head resting in one hand as the other tapped his fingers against the pillow.

“What I don’t get is how you haven’t accepted it yet,” Dirk huffed. 

“Give me a break,” Todd looked over at him before returning his eyes to the ceiling. “It’s been a year since we did something like this.” 

Something popped up on Dirk’s mind, and the thought made him quit smiling and start frowning instead. He imitated Todd and laid down by his side, both arms going to rest over the sheets.

“Do you think that’s bad?”

Todd hummed questioningly, asking Dirk to be more specific.

“Being on a case,” he said, not daring to look at him yet. “The persecutions. The danger. The death. It’s been a year without that. Do you think it’s, bad coming back?”

His question was received with silence, and every second without a word, Dirk felt like something was dying inside of him. But then Todd sighed, and spoke to take all those fears away.

“No,” he felt him more than saw him shake his head. “It’s only part of the job. But, we’re doing good with this. And you have to admit that it has its fun.” He turned his head to look at him. “Dude, we fought with aliens.”

“Yeah, and you shot one of them against the truck’s door,” Dirk tried to keep himself from smiling, but his lips were pulling to hard.

“Is that the only thing you think is worth remembering?” he laughed, and Dirk felt obliged to see that.

“Oh no, I also remember how you shot all those flying aliens with the airgun,” he pointed with an eyebrow lightly raised.

Todd laughed again, and Dirk couldn’t stop himself from imitating him this time. “Shut up, that was legendary.”

“Whatever keeps you sane,” Dirk rolled his eyes, but without a trace of spite in the gesture, and let his gaze focus on the ceiling.

And perhaps it was for the small bubble of comfort that built around them, or maybe it was the exhaustion that turned the barriers down, but when he spoke again, Todd’s voice acquired a soft tone that melted something inside of Dirk.

“Man, I wouldn’t change this work for the world.” 

Dirk felt how his heart skipped a beat when he heard him. There was something in his voice, a fondness, an  intimate tone, that made the words weight a ton more than they originally would.

He had a hunch. It was different from the ones he was used to have. It didn’t pull any part of his body, telling him somewhere to go and do his job as the saviour of the Universe, any crazy occurrence that dragged him into problems like before. No, this hunch was born from the depth of his heart, tugging from it with an incessant row of  _‘you could’_ s that were a lot harder to ignore than the bothering stream of creation.

Yeah, it wasn’t a hunch. It was an impulse. One that Dirk was happy, although nervous, to satisfy.

He moved his hand a little closer to Todd’s, enough for their pinkies to brush. At his side, his friend froze from head to toe. He was about to apologise, tagging it as a little accident, but it wasn’t necessary. Suddenly, Todd’s finger placed on Dirk’s, close enough to be lightly locked. With a sideways look he discovered him not even looking in his direction, his gaze intently focused on the ceiling instead. Diverting his glance from him again, he moved a little closer, causing his hand to be a bit under Todd’s, who instantly wrapped his fingers around Dirk’s. It was an awkward hold, he thought, but it felt strangely good. With a swift turn, he switched his palm to be facing upwards and was rewarded immediately with Todd’s fingers interlocking with his. Dirk cast him a quick glance, but Todd had his eyes glued above them, unaware except for his hand of the action they were both taking part. Had not been him the one experiencing it, Dirk would’ve thought nothing had happened at all. But as if the feeling of touch wasn’t proof enough, Todd’s thumb moved slightly on his skin. A little to the right, at first. Then back to the left. And soon, it was tracing small circles in the back of Dirk’s hand.

It wasn’t the first time they held hands. More than once they found it convenient to keep the pace while running away from undeserved dangerous threats when looking out for cases. Or when Todd had one of his painful pararibulitis attacks that left him trembling all over and in need of contention. Or even when Dirk had to drag his assistant to convince him of going to the nearest ice-cream shop for some deserved high quality “good-job” treat. 

Gosh, he might be a bit touchy now that he thought about it.

No, it wasn’t the action that caught him off guard. It was the feeling. Because the tingle that spread through his arm has never been there before. Because the relaxing sensation of almost closing his eyes had never been there before. And the sudden replacement of his bad thoughts with a confusing calm and a desire to pull closer had definitely  _never_ been there before.

“Thank you,” he whispered. Dirk cleared his throat, swallowing the knot that kept his words from going out. “You-you always help me a lot. I’m sorry for making you…”

“Shut up,” Todd interrupted. Perhaps he noted how harsh it came out, because he immediately explained himself. “I mean, you have nothing to be sorry for. We are…” He closed his eyes, deciding to change his words. “I like to help.”

And Dirk wanted to agree. Dirk wanted to say that he always did. That he was always there when Dirk needed him. He was there when he wanted to inspect whatever rope the Universe tugged from his insides, telling him to go to unsuspected or inaccessible places. He was there when Dirk needed someone to vent to about some frivolous or insignificant subject that nobody cared about. He was there when he only needed to yell at the world for moving too fast, too slow or too confusing.

But instead, he settled for a fidgety smile. They remained like that, without speaking and holding each other’s hand for what seemed like hours until Todd left to get some sleep himself. But Dirk? He couldn’t sleep for a long time, and once he could, the question ‘what if…?’ accompanied him until the sunlight lit the room again.

* * *

The rest of the motel was sunk in complete silence. The only thing Farah could hear was the slow ticking sound of the clock, steadily marking the passage of time with it’s loud _tick_ _tock_. Tikao had fallen asleep hours ago, done with the lack of recognition his remarks were getting from the two girls. They were laying on the sofa in front of him. Farah was cuddling Tina from behind, sliding soft fingers up and down her arm in some sort of caress. 

She missed this. She missed  _her_ . There was no need for them to talk to enjoy each other’s company, they were over that phase of their relationship by now. Farah was content enough with getting to spend time with Tina on her arms.

“We’re gonna have to talk to him again tomorrow,” she said in a low whisper, not taking her eyes from the small figure before them. “He must know more than he’s told.”

“Do we even know he’s a ‘he’?” Tina asked, her voice muffled by the cushion she buried her face in. Her voice sounded as sleepy as she looked, and Farah found it very cute.

“Right,” Farah closed her eyes for a second. “Them, then. We need to have more information.”

Tina hummed in agreement, leading to a short silence. But she broke it again, turning a little to face Farah.

“I missed you.”

“I know,” she replied, feeling her lips curl up at the corners.

“And I missed being close to you,” Tina continued, running her own fingers through Farah’s hand. “It’s not the same than talking through the phone.”

Farah sighed, “No, this is a lot better.”

She just wished it didn’t have to end once the case was over.

“We could do it for longer.” She seemed to have read Farah’s mind, although her words left her frowning.

“What do you mean?”

Farah put some distance between them to get a better look ad Tina’s face. She looked hesitant, her eyes flying apart from Farah’s as she mentally looked for the adequate words to begin. When she finally spoke, she still wasn’t looking at her, all rests of sleepiness long gone.

“I’ve been thinking, and, we are really happy together,” she started. But Farah felt like the status of their relationship wasn’t the main subject of the conversation. 

“Yeah, we are,” Farah agreed cautiously. She didn’t like how Tina sounded, as if she wasn’t certain of her own words.

“But, we don’t really… spend, time together.”

All the alarms went off on Farah’s head.

“That’s not true,” she tried with a silly smile, but it felt just as forced as her relaxed tone. “We are always next to each other when I go to Bersberg.”

“Yeah, but for how long?” Tina sighed, finally lifting her look to meet her eyes. “I’m tired of seeing you go and having to wait for other two months until you come back, settling only with videocalls and a faceless voice.”

Farah felt her world was shaking, about to fall down to its foundations. “So, what do you suggest we do?”

_Please, don’t say break up_ , she though.

Although it would be the most reasonable thing, wouldn’t it? Farah had always been a problem for her, not being enough to fill that space that a lover should. Maybe it would be better for Tina to get rid of her, to find someone who was available for what being her partner entitled. It wasn’t like Farah was unused to being a disappointment for others.

“Why don’t you move to Bersberg?”

Silence. Plain static played on her mind, over an over. Farah must have looked like an idiot, staring wide-eyed and without producing any sound. But, she couldn’t really give an answer to that. Could she?

“I mean, you always wanted to be a cop, and you are one there,” Tina explained. Her lack of answers might have gotten her a little nervous. “And you said that your role on the Agency isn’t that important apart from filling a few forms and putting the money, and lately it hasn’t been that good, so…”

Farah wanted to say something. Anything, really. But she couldn’t. Not only there were no words in his brain to make a sentence out of, but she also couldn’t breathe. She needed air. She needed space.

“I-” she managed to choke out, standing up and failing miserably to speak as if the thought alone didn’t made her nerves shoot in every direction. “I’ll, be right back.”

She left Tina on the couch, frowning sadly as she made her way to the kitchen. Farah felt her chest on fire. Were the hallways always this small? The walls were certainly closing on her with every step she made, the air having every time more difficulty to get into her lungs.

Once she got to the kitchen she put her hands on the cold metal of the countertop to help her get some grounding. Tina wanted her to move with her. She forced the air in and out, feeling how it burned her nose and the back of her throat as it got in, leaving a trail of fire on its way. Tina wanted her to move with her. Her hands were shaking from holding the countertop so hard. _Tina wanted her to move with_ _her_.

She heard a sound from the other door, and when she looked in that direction she was surprised by the vision of a pretty woke up Todd walking in. When he noticed in what state she was in, Todd went to her side, running long and fast circles in her back.

“Farah, what happened, are you okay?” he asked, taking her away from the countertop and into the nearest chair.

“Tina and I were talking,” she began, her breathing accelerating more, “and she… she said...”

“Wait, hold on,” Todd stopped herby putting another hand in her shoulder. “Try to breathe again, but _slowly_.”

She did her best to calm down, but following Todd’s imitations of perfectly normal breathing, it seemed a bit easier. He handed him a glass of tap water when she managed to keep going on her own. Todd always cared about the people he loved, trying to make them feel more comfortable on their own skin. Farah liked that about him. He sat away from her, knowing she needed her own space to fully recover before speaking. He waited patiently until she was ready to talk again.

“We were… talking about us,” she began, fixing her eyes on the empty glass that she downed in one go. “It wasn’t really anything specific. Just, life, and how we missed each other and… and she asked me something _and_ ,” she dragged the last word. “I freaked out.”

“What did she say?” 

Her friend was only trying to be helpful, and Farah knew this, But the question only bugged her more than if he simply remained silent. There was an entire lot of uncertainty from her part about the matter, and even voicing it out loud already gave her a headache.

“She wanted me to move to Bersberg.”

Todd shut up then, and Farah lifted her look to see the reason of it. He was frowning, mouth open as if he were about to say something about it but didn’t know what. Farah found it was a pretty good imitation of how she was feeling et the moment.

“Wow,” he said then. 

Farah rolled her eyes. “Vocal as always, Todd.”

He couldn’t even throw her a pointed look from the surprise.

“She asked you to… move with her?” Todd raised an eyebrow as he pointed at her. Farah nodded. “And you literally ran away.”

“What was I supposed to do?” She sounded exasperated as she left the glass on the counter. “I didn’t have an answer to that.”

“Well, don’t get me wrong, I am literally the last person you should ask this, but I don’t think running away from the problem was a good idea,” he determined. “Not when Tina was so serious about it.”

“Should I have said yes?” Farah raised her eyebrows.

“I don’t know,” Todd shrugged. “Did you want to?”

Ah, that was the important question. Did she want to go with her and Hobbs, to the job of her dreams, with the person she loved the most, finally fulfilling her desire of being who she wanted to be since she was a little girl?

Yeah, it sounded promising, and in the best possible way. Then what was stopping her?

“I’m, not really sure,” she said lowering her eyes. “I mean, what would happen with the Agency?”

“I’m pretty sure we can fill those papers for you.” Todd looked away for a second as he thought better of his words. “Or I could fill them instead. We should never trust Dirk with any legal document.”

“What would Dirk think about me if I leave?” Farah asked again, imagining the detective’s disappointed face as she spoke. “This was his dream after all, and I am his friend...”

“Dirk only wants his friends to be happy,” Todd said in return, not letting her even finish that sentence. “He’d be delighted for you to it, even if that means leaving the Agency.”

“And if you get into trouble?” she pressed.

“Then we will call you as soon as we think things are getting complicated,” Todd gave her a lopsided smile. “Seriously, why are you looking for so many excuses?”

She didn’t answer, not because she didn’t want to, but because she really had no clue.

“Unless,” he narrowed his eyes, “you don’t want to do it.”

“No!” Farah rushed to say. “No, I would love to, but… there’s a lot to think, Todd.”

He nodded, understanding what she was leaving unsaid. Farah could feel him sensing her insecurities from afar. 

“Okay, you’re right. It involves a lot of things you must think. But, try not to _over_ think it,” he advised. “Do whatever will make you happy and it’ll be the right choice.”

Farah felt herself smile at him. “Thank you Todd.”

He smiled back in response. She was really glad he found her this night. Farah wouldn’t expect anyone to be up at this hours.

She squinted her eyes at him. “What are you doing awake, by the way?”

He looked a more nervous now, taken by surprise. “I had to take the,” he stuttered as he motioned with his hands, “the pararibulitis pill, and I... I heard Dirk having a nightmare, and went to help him.”

“Is he okay?” Farah asked worried. She wondered how she didn’t hear him.

“Yeah, I uh, stayed with him. Until now.”

Todd talked like a child who had been caught on the middle of a mischief, Farah figured. And it made her think of all the things she had been noticing from him as of late: the quick looks at a certain detective, the faint blushed of his ears and neck, the soft smiles that she never,  _ever_ , got from him. 

Not even in those first stages of their ‘friendship’.

“Speaking of which… I wanted to ask you something,” she dared with a naughty look. She noticed the way Todd shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, as if he knew what she was going to ask. As if he somehow expected it.

“Sure,” he faked calmness. He couldn’t have failed more. “Shoot.”

“What’s going on with Dirk?”

Her voice might have shown a bit more than she expected, because Todd seemed to get perfectly the reason behind her questioning. His face changed completely from nervousness to a mask of indifference that couldn’t be more fake.

“Wha- what do you mean?” he crossed his arms over his chest.

“C’mon Todd,” her smile widened as much as his eyes, “I’m not blind.”

It was cute, she had to say. The way he visibly swallowed as he tried to make his way through some sort of excuse to avoid the conversation, struggling with his own words on a typical Todd Way™. He looked like he was trying to hid in himself at the same time he searched for an exit door to run from their talk. It was almost funny, to be honest.

“Farah I- I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he denied, shaking his head. “I mean, I couldn’t be more confused about what you’re talking. And, besides, how do I know that it isn’t you the one who’s projecting your, your-?” But she lifted an eyebrow at him, silently asking him to cut it with his bullshit. He sighed, dropping his shoulders with his act. “Is it too obvious?”

She chuckled. “So you admit it?”

“Where’s the point in hiding from your stupid James Bond brain?” he joked as he lightly kicked her leg.

“Well, you don’t have to be a genius to realise it.” She saw him panic. “But I don’t think Dirk knows. He’s oblivious about any type of human interaction, as you know.”

Todd let a breath out that Farah couldn’t distinguish from defeat or relief.

“So,” she continued after a moment of silence where Todd didn’t dare to look at her, “do you like him?”

“I…” Farah saw him make a face at his bare feet that moved on the tiled floor. “I don’t know. This never happened to me before.”

“You never, liked someone before?” she frowned.

“Not that,” Todd rolled his eyes. “I mean, it’s never been… like this, before. I never have cared about that person this much when that happened.”

She put a hand on her chest, “That confession hurts,”

“You know what I mean,” he smiled at her. “Dirk is… Different. From you, or Amanda. They’re like, different types of care.”

Farah hummed in understanding. “And are you going to do anything about it?”

“Hell no,” the frown reappeared on his face. “I can’t do that, not to him. God knows what would happen if I fuck this up. He… he deserves a lot more than what I have to offer.”

Farah pressed her lips together. She knew Todd still had some self-worth problems that he never really got over, but this was another level. It wasn’t a simple remark on his abilities (or lack of abilities) about some topics, or even a moody attitude when confronted about his actions. This time his problems were getting on the way of his happiness. And she didn’t like by any means seeing her friends on distress. Before she could doubt herself she put a hand on his arm, making him look a her.

“I hope some day you realize that’s not true,” she tried to convey in her voice all the love she felt for him.

Todd smiled sadly at her, before standing up from the chair. “Anyway, I think I’ve got some sleep to catch and you have a girlfriend to take care of.”

A shudder ran through her back. “Yeah, thanks for the reminder, Mr Don’t Avoid Your Problems.”

He chuckled softly. “Good luck.”

“Goodnight,” she said in return.

As she gave him her back, walking back towards the hall where she found Tina fell asleep, she hoped that things would turn out good for all of them.


	8. VIII. Candy Crush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So, a little warning before reading, Priest will make a good apparition in this chapter, and it comes with his usual violence of course. Personally I don't think it's that bad because I focused on the important parts of the scene, but in case you don't like that, you can simply focus on the dialogue.  
> Happy reading <3

The whimpering coming from the floor felt like an extra dose of energy. He felt the bubble of laughter rose up his throat as the body under his foot tried to crawl out of his reach. He pressed even further, right in the wound that he knew the girl had. 

“What a shame, Cerberus,” Priest cooed, “If only you did your test right, we wouldn’t be having this little problem.”

He had her caught under him, and it was obvious it didn’t feel nice. And there was no better reward than hearing the whimpering coming out of her lips.

But the girl made a mistake. She pushed his leg off her, turning around to face upwards and give him a fierce defiant look. He didn’t lose his balance, but he was pissed at her now.

“I tried to do it right,” she spat furiously. “It didn’t work because that’s not how _it_ works.”

Poor young thing. She still didn’t understand how things were done in Blackwing. She had an interesting attitude, but it wouldn’t take him long to break her.

Priest grabbed her by the collar of her jumpsuit and threw her against the wall. Judging by her grimace it hurt more than she was expecting. Good.

“Listen kiddo, things here don’t work the way you want them to be. You have to obey _their_ orders,” he hit her against the hard surface again to remark the importance of the statement. “You’ve got no power of choice here, no chance to choose. You are nothing more than a simple rat in this laboratory, and you have to do as you’re told. Am. I. Clear?”

But this was answered with a hand hitting his face, barely moving it to the side. He wasn’t surprised. The strong ones always tried to fight at the beginning, and it always made something similar to pride born in his chest. But it never bloomed. It was only a silenced thought, a sleepy feeling, the echo of something that once had been there but that he could only remember now. And that‘s how he preferred it, because then it wouldn’t get in the way of his hatred for indiscipline.

He turned his head back at her, slowly, just to see the girl try and recompose the mask of courage that he knew she didn’t have. He lifted his arm to give her a lesson about the way rules worked with him when he heard the interruption of another human entering the room.

“What now?” he looked back, clearly annoyed.

He hated being interrupted in the middle of his job. Priest had asked a purely white room for his messy works so that he, all dressed in dark colours, and the occasional blood that could appear on their little sessions would be strongly engraved in the project’s memory. There was something poetic about it if you asked him. Someone else appearing on the picture really ruined the whole purpose of it all.

It was really infuriating.

“Uh, Mr Adams needs you in his office, sir,” the man said trying to keep the composure. It was funny to him how uncomfortable people got in his presence. “He says it’s important.”

“Sure, tell him I’m on my way.” He returned to project Cerberus, who looked mildly relieved by the news. “But before I go...”

He made his fist impact against the girl’s cheek, and seeing her in the floor he contently guessed that she’d have a beautiful mark tomorrow when they met again.

Priest knocked on the man’s open door just in time to see him flinch at his sudden appearance. He knew that no matter how much he tried to hide it, the Supervisor was still afraid of having him on the same room as him, and the thought always made Priest want to laugh.

“What’s up, Kenny boy?” He came inside, closing the door behind him and siting on the offered chair. “Are you in need of my help again?”

Priest knew Adams had a little job in his hands, a job he wasn’t telling his superiors about. Last time he asked for his advice, Priest had been more than happy to help, and this time wouldn’t be any different. But the folder that fell in the desk told him this would be another kind of story.

“Something like that. It’s not like what you’ve done for me, but I’ve been told you’re familiar with this kind of stuff.” Ken sat in the chair opposite to him, opening the folder he’d just dropped and showing him the only files inside of it: a map of the state of New Mexico and the blurry photo of a covered man. “We’ve got the location of one of the projects who had escaped in the break out seventeen years ago. I was hoping you could bring him back. You know,” he shrugged, “so he knows there’s been some changes.”

“Well, yeah, it is a good one,” Priest agreed, taking the map in his hands, “but where’s the fun in this? Your men could easily get him for you.”

“Because he is not alone.” Ken moved the chair closer to rest in elbows on the table, joining his hands above it. “We discovered he’ll be in the vicinities of another projects.”

“Yeah? And who would they be?” he smirked while casting a look at the blurry photo.

“You’re familiar with project Incubus, right?”  
Priest’s eyes shot up at Ken’s self-satisfied look.

“I hope you’re not kidding with me, Ken,” he warned.

“Totally not. We also got signs of Project Dragon and Valkyrie with them, so yeah, it really is a... _catch_ ,” he lifted an eyebrow and tilted his head, the silent question still floating between them.

Priest felt his lips slowly quirk up as he looked down at the map. “Is the Brotzman woman with them?”

“Presumably,” Ken shrugged again.

“And I have permission to do whatever it takes to bring them back?” he folded the map to look up at the Supervisor again.

“Whatever you consider necessary to complete the task,” he nodded. “ _And_ that keeps them alive.”

Priest had to bite down a laugh. “When to I start?”

“There’s a helicopter waiting for you right now.”

Priest properly smiled, taking the folder with him and walking away without another word.

He’ll make them pay. Especially _him_.

* * *

Amanda felt like a kid again. She didn’t realize how much time passed since she had eaten so many cookies like today. It reminded her of her childhood, when she and Todd would make a stop in their daily fights to settle for a TV show on lazy weekends and eat the whole jar of biscuits. She decided now that this stop had been a good idea.

Amanda ate a lot of things. First, her beloved chocolate cookies that no one ever could top. Then Astrid’s iconic idea of oreos and peanut butter. She would never say no to a Parent’s Trap reference. And then Cross came with his Jelly-O packages, and Zia offered her some yogurt with fruits… let’s say she was well fed for a whole day.

Now she was laying on the floor with her friends. Martin and Cross were playing some wrestling contest, with Diana and Gripps chanting for them as Astrid took many photos of the competition. Beast just wandered around the store with Dusk, who had got bored of the seemingly unidirectional conversation he was having with Greg. She heard him complain that sometimes his gestures weren’t whole words at all. Meanwhile, she, Vogel and Zia took a deserved break in the canned food aisle. Amanda gave a deep sigh to claim their attention.

“Oh God,” she pushed her head back as she grabbed her stomach. “I feel like everything hurts inside me.”

“Well if I mixed stuff the way you did I wouldn’t be so surprised in the slightest,” Zia teased from her place in front of Amanda. “I still have no idea how you haven’t fainted yet.”

“It’s the sugar.” She assured pulling her head back to properly see her. “Until it runs out, I’ll still be up and working, ready to bother you.”  
Zia narrowed her eyes just as Vogel came back from his silent rest. He didn’t have that much luck with the food.

“Oh, so you can do the vision thing again, boss?” he asked with a pale imitation of his usually over-excited voice.

“Oh no Vogel,” she laughed shaking her head. “I don’t think I’ll do that anytime soon. Beast can guide us later.”

“But that was so cool!” he reclaimed. “I’d love to have someone else in my head, we’d think of lots of things to do together.”

“Well then Zia can help you with that,” Amanda nodded in her direction.

“Would you do that?” Vogel asked, now smiling brightly at the visibly ashamed girl. “Would you read my mind?”

“It’s not, as simple as that.” Amanda earned a pointed look from Zia as she said this, which sort of made her laugh. Just a little. “Sometimes it takes time to connect with the person, and it’s even harder if we don’t do it the three at the same time.”

“But, you can try, right?” He frowned at her with a hopeful look, and Amanda knew by Zia’s face that she wouldn’t resist Vogel’s puppy eyes.

Zia sighed, “Fine. But I don’t promise anything.”

“Great! What do I have to do?” he asked sitting with his back straighter.

“Just, sit back,” Zia extended a hand to make him relax, “and close your eyes.”

He did as he was told, and Amanda saw him shut his eyes tight. That took a chuckle out of her. The sound of the crystal doors opening made her look up, and just as a man with a brown trench coat entered the store, Zia cleared her throat.

“Would you help me?” she asked with a low tone, that sounded so vulnerable it surprised Amanda.

It was obvious why she asked her. Zia rarely tried her powers without her friends helping her, so doing it alone must be a hard experience: Being in someone else’s mind, one that you don’t know… But she knew Amanda’s mind, she had been there before. She was acquainted with it. So it was logical that she asked her to share the weight of Vogel’s subconscious. But the request was still… odd.

Vogel peeped one eye open to look at both women staring at each other. “Um, are you going to do it?”

Well, there was no chance to step back now.

“Yes, Vogel.” Amanda ran her hands on the fabric of her jeans as she nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Zia entered in her mind first. She felt familiar in Amanda’s head, as if her brain recognised her presence. Then, Zia acted as a wire. Having connected with her, she reached for Vogel’s mind, and suddenly Amanda felt in a totally different place, one unknown although not unpleasant. And she felt Vogel’s presence there. She didn’t know how, she just… felt it.

_“This is so cool!”_

Yes, it definitely was Vogel.

 _“And now you see what I see?”_ Vogel asked them.

 _“Anything you’ve got in mind.”_ Amanda heard Zia’s voice in her mind. Or well, she felt Zia’s words while being on Vogel’s mind. This thing was still difficult to understand.

And then he showed them.

At first she saw bits of the past, only passing thoughts in the boy’s mind. There was one of him and Cross eating ice cream in front of a trash can on fire, another of him completely trashing a cop’s car by himself while the boys cheered, Gripps and Martin lifting him over their shoulders.

But after that, the real memories began to play.

Martin and Vogel were standing side by side under a bridge. Gripps and Cross must’ve been on the van, for what they could hear.   
Amanda understood they weren’t being a part of the memory. She didn’t feel like she belonged in there. Instead, she had the strange sensation of being an intruder in Vogel’s mind, like his memory knew they weren’t a part of what he was seeing and made them feel as such. But they weren’t living it either, Amanda was fully aware of the nature of what she was seeing. It was as if they could see it like a movie.

The guys looked way younger, like ten years in the past. Vogel still looked like a teenager at the moment, and Martin looked exactly the way Amanda remembered her father, like a functional adult. Martin had a golf stick in his hands, but he wasn’t bating anything with it. Not yet, at least. He was just standing, his feet spread so they were under his shoulders, holding with stretched arms the golf stick in front of him. Then he swayed it like a baseball bat, but in slow motion. Once he was over he glanced at Vogel, who paid attention to every movement.

“You got it?” Martin said as he passed the golf stick to a wide-eyed Vogel.

“Yeah,” he nodded, enthusiastic as always.  
Amanda noticed that he stood with his feet too far from each other, and when he went to swing, one of his elbows were too low and the other too high. When he moved, he almost hit Martin in the process, as the golf stick flew from his hands.

“Agh, why doesn’t it work?” he complained, scowling at the abandoned stick. “I wanted to do it right!”

Vogel kicked the floor in some kind of tantrum, ending with his arms tightly crossed over his chest. Martin reached to him, the ghost of a smile present in his face, and rested a hand on Vogel’s shoulder. He looked up at him, and Martin made him sit in the floor with him.

“Look, you got the spirit,” Martin comforted him, and his tone was sweet, reminding Amanda of the countless situations where he comforted her about her failing powers. “You only have to keep trying and it’ll work.”

“But I already tried, and it was awful! Not like you,” Vogel nodded at him, “you were amazing!”

“Listen Jacob-” he started as he got up to go for the golf stick.

“I’m _not_ Jacob,” the younger man glared at him. “My name’s Vogel now.”

“Vogel, then.” But his tone hid a smile under it. “You don’t need to do it like me. Do it with your style. The rowdier, the better. Just don’t give up, grab it tighter, and keep trying.”

Martin extended the forgotten stick at him, and Vogel picked it hesitatingly. Then Martin drove him to where an empty oil container laid in the floor, and simply gestured at it with an open hand.

And Vogel hit it. He hit it with a wild force, once and again while a chaotic smile plastered on his face. The container sunk in a lot of places by his attack, and the yells of encouragement that could be heard from the background only gave Vogel more enthusiasm to hit the damn thing.

For the grand finale, he took some steps back, put himself on place, and hit it so hard that the container rolled several feet away from him. The Rowdies congratulated him with many pats in his back, ones that almost left him eating the dirt under his feet. Amanda loved to see the huge grin on Vogel’s face

“That last move was great, kid!” Gripps said as he moved him back and forth from one shoulder.

“Yeah, I learned that from Martin!” Vogel explained looking at the oldest man. “It’s just like a baseball bat.”

“Yeah,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest, a pose that Amanda already identified as Martin’s resting pose. “Just like a baseball bat.”

Then something strange happened. The memory seemed to fade into molecules of colours that rearranged to form another image. It was a baseball field, in a very sunny day. There were kids playing, and a lot of adults on the sides behind the line marking the end of the field. Amanda assumed it was an elementary school’s match.

And she saw him. A little guy with black hair, dark almond-shaped eyes, and a big, enthusiastic smile that Amanda would recognise anywhere. He was looking off to the benches, where a man and a woman of similar features were happily cheering for him. The little guy she identified as Vogel greeted them enthusiastically shaking his hand before trotting rather than walking to where another group of guys gathered.

Amanda felt the uneasiness coming from the general direction of where she felt the real Vogel was, and it didn’t take her long to figure out what memory this was. As Vogel got aware of it too, it fast-forwarded to the part that made it out-stand from the rest of his memories. Soon, and without any warnings, the entire picture dissolved again only to reorder itself into the part that neither Vogel nor Amanda really wanted to see.

The younger version of her friend was standing on the field in front of one kid from the other team, kid that was surrounded by the blue glow that emanated Vogel’s body. He was caught in it, incapable of moving, and by the look in his face, nothing good was happening there. When the light dissipated the kid fell to the floor, unconscious. The rest of the children around them started to scream, running away from Vogel as he kept walking backwards. He looked at everything with concerned eyes, trying to get hold of someone, _anyone_ , willing to hear him explain what happened. But no one stayed, and no one listen. They just kept pointing at him like a weird exhibition of a freak’s show. So the kid kept walking backwards, until his back hit another person. He turned around, and Amanda could feel the desperation in his eyes as he saw his parents there. But just as Vogel reached a hand to touch them, they pushed away, the man wrapping a protective arm around his wife.

“What have you done?” he said. His brows were knitted and he eyed his son with a growing mix of confusion and worry.

But Vogel didn’t seem to see any of that. He saw betrayal. Anger. Just as much as he was receiving from the rest of them, all people he once had known now turned from him. It became too much, even for her.

From her safe place in the ethereal form she had, Amanda could hear the sounds of their accusations, drowning her like some sort of high pitched alarm; she could feel the fear in their stare, as if he was some sort of threat. An exotic animal that had escaped from the zoo instead of the guy they shared a classroom with, the boy they once drove to school, _their son_.

If it was overwhelming for her, she couldn’t imagine how it was for Vogel to experience it again.

 _“Make it stop, Zia,”_ Amanda commanded.

 _“I, I can’t do that,”_ she received as an answer. _“He’s in control now, I can’t break the link.”_

She didn’t know which feelings were hers and which were Vogel’s. There was a growing frustration imploding somewhere as the boy stepped away from them. Guilt coiling in her insides as he moved through the mass of people that flooded the streets. And a big amount of impotence that she could identify coming from where she was sure Vogel was as his younger version crossed a fence to run towards a vacant lot in between two tall buildings.

When she returned her attention to the boy, she saw him get in the way of a perfectly polished black van. Many uniformed men came out of it, all of them holding weapons that were aimed at him. He looked with wide eyes at them as they formed a perfect circle around his small frame. From the middle, a little gap opened so a man came into view. He had this amused smile playing on his lips, but something about him made Amanda’s nerves crisp immediately.

“What’s up, boy?” he said, crouching in front of Vogel. “Ready to go home?”

Before he could answer, Amanda was yanked out of the memory. The process hasn’t been smooth like the others, with the image dissolving into a different setting. This time it was violent. She felt ejected from that mental place, her whole essence being shaken as it fell all at once in her physical body.

When she opened her eyes again, she was on the little shop again. Zia was still there, looking a little shook, but otherwise fine. Vogel, however, was another story. He had his hands clenched into fists that trembled a little on his lap. His eyes were still tightly shut, but a trail of tears left a wet mark on his cheeks.

“Oh, Vogel,” Zia said in a whisper. Her voice was as soft as it was low. She extended a hand in his direction. “I didn’t know-”

“Why didn’t you tell me that could happen?!” He opened his eyes to accusatory glare at her. “You could have avoided it!”

“That’s, not the way it works,” Zia apologised with a sad shrug. “And, I had no idea there was something you wanted to block. I wouldn’t have left you with all the power back there.”

Vogel didn’t seem to listen to her. Her apology meant nothing to him, as he turned from her to hide his look in his shaky fists. It broke Amanda’s heart to see the sadness behind the anger of his eyes.

“They were afraid,” he mumbled. “I don’t like when good people are afraid of me.”

But it was sadder to see how after all this time, he still didn’t seem to realise how wrong he was.

“No, they weren’t afraid,” Amanda tried with a lighter approach, placing a careful hand on his closed fists.

“You saw it drummer!” he yelled back, his whole face contorting into a scowl, lines appearing between his brows from frowning too deeply.

“Yes, I did. They were _concerned_.” He didn’t move back when she went to put her hands on him again, but his look still had a distant glint of indecision, as if he couldn’t believe her despite how much he wanted to. “Worried for you, not _of_ you. Perhaps, if you had stayed a little longer you would’ve-”

A sound from the background forced her to shut up. There was a buzzing in the air, coming from somewhere close to them but that she couldn’t guess the direction.

Amanda turned slightly to see that outside, where the wind began to move the dust of the ground, creating small swirls out of fallen leaves and other trash left from past visitors. If she paid extra attention, she could hear the trees hitting against the tin roof of the place.

“Isn’t that…?”

“The sound of a helicopter?” Zia completed, already standing up. Any trace of her pity for Vogel was gone, her eyes now scrutinised her surroundings as thoroughly as she’s seen her do many times. “Yeah, I thought so too.”

Amanda saw the rest of her boys pay attention at the new sound that grew and grew to confirm their suspicions. She was about to go and investigate it herself when the crystal automatic doors opened with a crashing sound by the impact of the air forcefully coming in.

Along with many uniformed men, a dark figure stepped in. He was covered from head to toe in black military uniform, holding a gun in arms as if it was his most valued possession. And she knew she had seen him before. It was the same man from Vogel’s old memory. Except that this time, a huge scar split his face in half.

“Oh hello, boys,” he said with a crooked smile. “I guess we see each other again.”

* * *

It was a mess. Everything was a complete mess, and it was all his fault. Well, perhaps not his entire fault, it was the result of a chain of different factors, but it was still under his command. Ken untied his tie for the third time only to begin once more the process of tying it again under the raised collar of his shirt.

The investigations weren’t working. Whatever the Knight incident was, and what other alternative realities were waiting for humanity, they clearly didn’t want to be discovered by them. Not even the best paid researchers could find a way to break through the fibre of reality to inspect other universes. And he was working for the government, so the budget was pretty huge. But that’s something he already anticipated, when he started his parallel project. But Wilson had no idea of that, so for her, his entire direction was incompetent.

And what is worse, his _other_ plan wasn’t working as he wanted either.

When Bart called him that day, telling him how the Universe wanted to talk to her, he saw an exit. A door to the success, on his current job and for the scientific community. So he advocated his whole attention to that. Of course he still ran his Supervisor tasks, but he was doing a heavy research on the abilities of his holistic friend to take this to a bigger scale. What would Wilson say if he brought her a way to communicate with the Universe? The very same world they live in, and any other world, at their disposition.

He sure as hell would get more than a salary rise.

But after all his efforts, all the resources he’s put into this, he was left with nothing. Nothing apart from the beginning of a connection that vanished in the air as fast as it appeared.

He felt so fucked up.

Ken dared another glance at the small screen on his desk. It showed Marzanna sitting on her bed, as she’d been doing for the past five days. Without thinking it twice, he took his coat from the chair’s back and stormed out of his office.

The man at the door frowned upon his arrival, but it only took one nod of his head for him to slide his credential for Ken. As soon as he heard the click, he stepped inside, going straight to the chair set in the middle of the room. The woman looked up at the source of movement, eyebrows twitching before fully setting into a frown.

“Ken?”

Her voice sounded a little husky. Ken wondered when was the last time they let her drink something.

“Hey Bart.” She looked surprised at the use of her real name instead of the one assigned to her. “It’s nice to see you.”

She didn’t say anything back, limiting herself to just stare at him. Ken sighed, knowing that if he wanted to get anything from this encounter, he must go right to the point.

“Look, I… wanted to ask you, for a favour,” he said, joining his hands by pressing the palms together.

“Is it another of your tests?” Marzanna asked with a low voice. “Because last time-”

“It’s not, like last time,” Ken tried to convince her. He rested his elbows on his knees, pushing himself forward to lean on them. “It’s just a simple, little, experiment.” She still looked a bit reluctant about it, so he thought he needed another incentive to have her on his side. “We can call Tessa in, if you want.”

To this she seemed to react well, opening her eyes in surprise and with a small smile pulling from her lips.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he continued. “You can even do the experiment together. But you need to save me.” He smiled back, frowning as he asked for her contribution. “Would you?”

For some seconds, she remained silent, and it had him wondering how much more he’d have to sacrifice for this.

Bart was indeed a valuable piece of his strategy. In part because of her vulnerability to his words, in part because of her abilities. According to the files, she was one of the ones harder to maintain in the project, thus one of the most valued members of the facility as well. But Wilson would doubt of his capacities to maintain the objectivity if she knew he was forging a weird type of relationship with their most dangerous project.

So how much was she worth in reality?

But Marzanna ended nodding to his request, so he left that question for another time. Ken sighed, leaning back on the chair and putting a nice face that he knew would please her.

“Thanks, Bart,” he grinned at her, careful to put not let his doubts slip into his voice. “I knew I could count on my friend.”

* * *

“What are you doing here?” Zia hissed by her side.

It didn’t escape to Amanda how the rest of her friends reacted to the arrival of the men. Dusk had wrapped his hands tighter around the steel bar that Martin gave him some time ago. Astrid and Diana immediately walked closer to Zia, almost unconsciously, as they stood in position for a fight. She even heard a soft grumble coming from Vogel, less than a meter away from her. Even Beast seemed uneasy by their presence.

One had to be dumb to not realise who they were.

“Who’d say all of you would find the way back together?” The man with the scar chuckled, and it was the most chill-inducing sound Amanda ever heard. “It’s almost as if you missed being in one place.”

“You’re not taking them back,” Amanda growled from her place, standing strong on her feet and ready to fight whoever disagreed with her.

The man gave her a disgusting look from head to toe. From behind the receiving desk, Greg tried to interfere, rising his hand as if to sign something at them. Without taking his eyes from her, the man shot him right on the head. Amanda had to suppress a gasp as his body fell heavy on the floor.

“And I suppose you’re the one who brought them all here,” he continued as if nothing happened. “The Brotzman girl.” A small smirk tugged from his lips, stretching the mark that crossed his face in a way that grossed her out more than hearing her last name coming from him. “You and your friends have caused a lot of problems to us before.”

“Yeah, and I plan on keep doing that if you don’t leave them alone.”

Amanda was about to give a step closer when a strong hand on her shoulder pulled her back. Martin appeared out of nowhere and kept her on place, preventing her from doing something that she'd surely regret in a near future. She frowned at him, but he wasn’t looking anywhere near her. His gaze was fixed in the man, and she never saw such a coldness touch his eyes like it did now.

“Hello, Osmund.” Amanda could see his grip get tighter around his bat. “Long time no see.”

“I guess you gathered your own freak show on that time,” the man now known as Osmund answered back. And even though his smirk was still on place, the bitterness on his tone made it sound a lot darker. “Why don’t we do this the nice way, so anyone gets hurt?”

“You mean like last time?” Martin groaned. He shook his head then, rising his arms to prepare his bat for a good hit. “I don’t think so. We’re not going anywhere with you.”

Osmund sighed, slowly moving his head to the sides. “Oh God… I was hoping you could say that.” Then his look froze on her as his voice lowered and said: “Fire."

The sound of the men’s weapons shooting took them out of their frozen stands and right into a defensive position. Amanda threw herself and the girls behind one of the aisles to use it as a shield. Vogel followed her right behind as Astrid and Diana sneaked to the next aisle before someone started aiming right at them. They all pressed their backs against the metal shelves to keep them on place. The bullets from the opposite side hit them roughly, trying to take down their improvised barricade with every step.

“What do we do now?” Zia asked beside her with a wild look on her eyes. Even though it showed some signs of fear, Amanda also noticed the will of not giving in without a fight.

She was about to answer when she saw an orange fly above their heads. And then an apple. And then a can of tomato soup. At the bottom of the shop, she could see Gripps, Cross and Dusk’s heads occasionally coming out before they threw another projectile. She even caught some strands of red head and the grunts of a certain girl every time a CD flew over her head.

Amanda smirked before speaking back to Zia.

“We go Rowdy Style.”

“Oh boy,” Vogel laughed at her right. He bumped fists with her before grabbing a pineapple and yelling, “Get ready for the Candy Crush!”

Tons of food of many types began to fly from the aisles, easily hitting their targets and helping them form some sort of resistance. Vogel looked ecstatic as the fruits left his hands, ending with an explosion sound whenever he heard it crash against one of the bodies across their shields. Zia next to her seemed so into it as well, following with her eyes the movements of those against them to calculate her next shot.

They threw them whatever they could find, only to distract the men enough so they could stop shooting them and started to back off. With the remaining shooters, it was easier to gain terrain, moving the heavy aisles as the other kept throwing merchandise at the uniformed officers.

For the very brief moments she could get a glimpse out of their hiding spot, Amanda saw that Osmund looked visibly irritated. He kept scowling at them, trying to aim his weapon at their heads, but there were fruity and canned projectiles that he had to dodge. The wrinkled nose gave his death stares a lot less power.

Oh man, what would she give to his him in the head.

“What are you gonna do once you run out of objects, Incubus?” Osmund asked from where he hid behind the desk. “You can’t keep me out forever.”

“Watch us try, you _dumbfuck_!” Astrid shouted as she threw a watermelon to his head. Where did she get that?

“Calm down, Luka,” he growled back. “You’re only causing more damage in the future.”

Luka?

Amanda gave Zia a wondering look, asking for some context she was lacking, but she didn’t gave further response than a serious frown and glare that could melt icebergs. So it was a big offence, she figured.

“That’s not my name anymore!” Astrid yelled before going out of her barricade.

She dodged the bullets to jump over the desk, falling right above this Osmund man. There was a bit of wrestling from both parts, but it didn’t take long until he was on top of her, pushing her hard against the ground in a way that looked severely painful.

“Astrid!” Diana yelled from her place, already coming out to follow her friend.

Zia seemed about to do the same when Amanda got a grip in her arm, pulling her back.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked her a little too harshly. “You’re going to get yourself shot!”

“I’m rescuing my friends, Amanda.” Zia retrieved her arm, making something fall from Amanda’s pocket. “And you can’t stop me.”

“Wait!” she called from the ground, lifting the useless Wendimoor wand before standing up. She frowned upon seeing it, and an idea started to form her head.

She saw that some feet away from them Martin was too busy fighting with many other Blackwing officers. Amanda whistled from her place and once she got his attention, pointed to where Priest had Astrid pinned to the ground, an arm pressing far too hard on her neck.

“As you say, Drummer girl,” he nodded, and gave one last hit to the guy in front of him before running their way.

“I could’ve done that,” Zia accused with a strong fire on her voice from where Amanda was still grabbing her.

“I know, but I need you to help me.”

“How?” she frowned even deeper.

“Get into my mind,” Amanda wrapped Zia’s free hand over hers holding the wand, “and give me an attack.”

“What?! I don’t know if I can do that!”

“Our friends lives depend on that, Zia,” she pleaded. “We’ve _got_ to try.”

Zia held her stare for a little longer before sighing and closing her eyes.

Amanda felt the natural strength pulling from her, begging her to go unconscious. But she didn’t let it. She couldn’t faint now. She needed to be fully awake to follow her plan. She put all her energies into keeping consciousness, pulling with all her being from her mind to keep being attached to her body. It was such the power she was using that everything started to ache. Every muscle of her body felt torn apart, as if their very molecules tried to dissipate into the stage of _nothing_  that usually came with the prompted attacks.

 _Control your pain_ , she had to remind herself. _It belongs to you, it is yours for you to use._

And for a moment, a very short moment, she felt Zia inside her mind as well, the familiar energy flooding through her as they shared the link. For a second, she thought they would make it.

Or that was until the other girl fell in her arms and broke any possible bond between them.

“I can’t,” Zia argued again while standing back on place. “I don’t know how to, Amanda, I-”

From the end of the wand, the blue crystals lit up before her. The air felt charged with static, and Amanda saw some sparks coming out of it with small flare-ups.

She could still feel the aching on her body, but it was all draining from herself, running through her arm until it accumulated on her wand. Her pain was power now, and she’d catalyse it on their favour.

“That’s not gonna be necessary,” she cut her off.

And before she got to explain herself, Amanda spun on herself, extending her arm over the aisle. Bolts of lighting came from her wand, illuminating the room like a storm formed around them as they went through the closest Blackwing officer. After her shot, he fell fainting to the floor.

“What was that?” Gripps called in from where he kept fighting another man.

“I don’t know!” Amanda grinned at him, admiring the new weapon on her hands.

“Whatever it was,” Cross shouted from her left, “keep it coming!”

And fucking hell she did.

Amanda jumped over the aisle, with Zia following behind with a renovated energy. She shot with her wand to several officers while the other girl fought those who tried to get in her way.

Amanda could get a better view of the place now. Diana and Vogel fought alongside each other, the first with her knives and the second with his fists. Cross was not so far from them, using another fallen guy to use as shield and weapon to get the other men down. Gripps was making use of some petrol cans he found at the bottom, not throwing them but using them as fists to keep punching the Blackwing workers. Beast helped by climbing on top of the men and blinding them enough for Gripps to hit them in the head. She seemed to be the one having more fun with this.

Zia went to where Astrid laid of the floor, coughing a little and grabbing her throat. Amanda spun on herself looking for Martin, a little scared of not seeing neither him nor Osmund. Her answer was found when the man appeared right at her feet after being thrown by the other guy in question. He had a thread of blood on his chin, surely because of her Rowdy friend.

“Give up already!” Osmund shouted at them as Martin propped himself up on his elbows. Although if he was speaking to him or to Amanda, she couldn’t tell.

“I’d die before letting you take them,” he grunted from below.

The guy laughed. He looked around, and from his mouth came out more laughter that felt far too haunting.

“Get over it, _Marty_ ,” he teased him getting the gun ready to shoot him. “We’ll call for more back up before you can win this over. You can’t beat us now.”

“Watch me.” Amanda said holding her wand.

Real clouds appeared over their heads, forcing all of the presents to look up from their positions. The air bottled up around her, creating a thunder that wrapped her and Martin at her feet. Osmund shot at them a few times, but the air merely sent them away, ricochetting on the walls of the store. His frustration was clear, and it fuelled her to do _more_.

Sparks came from the clouds, with loud crisping sounds that drowned the amazed gasps of her friends and the frightened words of the remaining men. Then Amanda stretched her arm up to the roof where the lightning came to find the end of her wand.

And with all the strength she could find in herself, she directed it to where Osmund stood. Amanda felt it passing through her, acting as the connector wire of her power. The bolt shot right to his eye with a violence that made the man let his gun fall and bring his hands up to his face.

“Now go if you don’t want us to wreck this entire place with you inside,” she threatened, the wand still aimed at him.

He gave a few steps backwards while shouting some words to his communicator. Amanda got the sound of other devices replaying a crappy version of his voice, and soon enough, those who could still walk on their own started to back off, still holding their guns up. His eyes still were fixed on Amanda, who was sure of the murderous look she had on her face.

They waited until the last of them disappeared to start moving again.  
Amanda jogged to where Diana and Zia helped Astrid to get up. She had some dark bruises that would last for some time and there were parts of her skin that were bleeding through the cuts, but she seemed to be in an overall good state.

“Are you okay?” she asked nonetheless.

Astrid nodded while still touching the skin of her neck. She had some difficulties to breathe, but her words were clear when she spoke next.

“What now?”

The three girls looked up at her. Amanda noticed that the Rowdies stopped moving as well, focusing on her next words with the same intensity.

She looked down at the wand. It felt hot in her hand, still vibrating with energy.

 _Her_ energy.

“Now? We move.” She looked up at them, making sure her glare was determined enough. “Enough of aimless driving, we’re going to where the Universe needs us.”

Before they could exit though, they heard grunts coming from the desk. Behind it, Beast fought to grab some kind of brown cloth while dragging it on the ground. With the help of Dusk, they brought to Amanda’s feet the figure of a scared Asian men that kept trembling on the ground.

He was the man with the coat Amanda saw before the Blackwing men came.

“We found him trying to sneak in through the back door,” Dusk said with a suspicious look. “We thought he was another Blackwing worker but...”

“He’s Project Phoenix,” Martin concluded.  
Amanda gave him one last look, before crouching in front of him.

“Who are you?” she asked gently.

He looked hesitant at first, but after seeing that her look didn’t falter he shifted in his place to face her better.

“Glenn,” he let out in a whisper.

“Hi Glenn,” she grinned. “Do you wanna help us overthrow a Government’s facility and save the Universe?”

“Sounds… about right?”

He still sounded a little doubtful, but judging by the look of their friends, it wasn’t like he had many choices left.

“Cool,” she said before standing up.

“Everyone to the cars, then,” she spoke to the rest, letting her lips curl in a cocky smirk. “We’ve got places to go.”

* * *

He wasn’t dreaming anything particular. In fact, seconds after awakening he wouldn’t even remember anything from it aside from a warm feeling coming from his hand and the ghost of a tired smile. But it was indeed a pleasant dream, so it was only natural that he felt annoyed at whoever decided to wake him up.

It was all in a sudden emotion, the explosion of light forcing him to sit straight on the bed and open his eyes, switching from asleep to awake in what felt like a second. From his newly opened window, Donna stood with an apologetic look, her hands slowly letting the curtain fall back on place.

“Sorry,” she said making a face. “I didn’t meant it to be that violent.”

“Don’t worry,” Dirk smiled over at her while he looked on the floor for his shoes. “It’s probably late if you had to come here anyway.”

“Um, it’s actually seven in the morning.”

He stopped dead in his tracks before tying his shoelaces.

Was it really _that_ early?

“Did something happen?” he frowned with worry.

Donna’s eyebrows raised as she shook her head, “No, no, nothing bad. But your friends were up and they… might need your help.”

The case. Right. They were working a case, how stupid of him to forget about that. And they had an _interesting_ person they could ask for help.

He smiled at the idea of having work to do.

“Right, I’ll go in a minute.”

Dirk dressed up as fast as he could, picking up the first clean shirt he could find to go with his trousers and the other pair of the shoe currently covering his foot. He couldn’t find Mona anywhere though, so instead of his usual jacket he had to settle with a mustard sweater that was on top of his suitcase.

When he arrived to the Hall, he noticed there was no need for the rush. Farah was in front of Tikao trying her best to appear as intimidating, but he knew her very well to see that she hadn’t properly woken up yet. Not so far from her, Tina stood with her arms crossed and the best concentration face she was capable to pull at the time. It was still notorious the huge effort that it took her to focus. He was distracted by the sound of Hobbs yawning. He was still on his PJs, Dirk noticed with amusement, as he accepted the cup of coffee that Donna offered him.

And speaking of coffee, Todd was sitting in the arm of one of the couches, with two identical cups in his hands. Apparently he hadn’t woken up much earlier than him either, because he still had his bed-hair messily pointing in different directions and his face was adorned by a small frown and a sleepy look. The view caused something to Dirk’s insides that he would have preferred to ignore. However, it changed once Todd noticed Dirk’s arrival, since he stood up and changed his expression into a greeting face.

“Morning,” he said. Dirk nodded in acknowledgement as Todd handed him one of the cups. “I prepared you something when Donna went for you. I thought you’d need it since, uh, what happened last night...”

Oh, yes. He had almost forgotten about that too.

Anyone that granted them more than one look would realise that neither Dirk nor Todd were a morning person. Todd always got grumpier than usual when he woke up, barely talking to anyone before he had a proper breakfast and brushed his teeth. And Dirk… he simply couldn’t function properly until 10 am. His brain seemed to need more hours than his body to fully wake up.

So after a year or so of living in the same flat together, there were certain unspoken rules between them. Like for example, in certain situations one should not wake the other unless they were fully rested or it was indeed necessary. This including Todd’s awful nocturne attacks that left him completely restless and Dirk’s haunting nightmares that kept him up until ungodly hours. Whenever any of these happened, they just gave the other the space and time they needed.

So it was only natural that Todd was worried about him, and it shouldn’t make Dirk feel as embarrassed as he was feeling.

Todd seemed to notice this, since his arm lowered a little along with his eyebrows.

“Are you okay?” he asked him.

And yeah, why wouldn’t he be? Why would he be so weird about his best friend caring about him like he had always done?

But thinking about it felt incredibly awkward. Even more because thinking about the nightmare made him think about what happened _after_ he woke up, when Todd came to check on him. But it shouldn’t bother him this much. They have held hands before, as he’d already said to himself a thousand times that night. That’s not what bugged him, no. It was his response to it what seemed… odd.

It was undoubtedly a strange reaction, even more considering the innocence of the act. But he couldn’t shake the sensation of it being something else. _Meaning_ something else. And that scared him to the bones.

The possibilities that ran through his mind after Todd left him alone were beyond terrifying, all of them ending with scenarios that were nothing near gratifying for their relationship. Dirk knew that it was more than inconvenient, but inappropriate as well. There was no way in which any of the possible explanation of what happened could be good for him. Or Todd, for that matter.

But as he had to repeat to himself until falling asleep, it didn’t _have_ to mean anything. He had had a nightmare, he was feeling sensitive. And they were in the middle of a case, which meant their emotions were on the surface. It was only natural that things could feel a little… different. But it didn’t have to mean _they_ were different. They were friends, best friends. Todd was still Todd, and Dirk was still Dirk, so there was no reason to make it a bigger deal than what it really was. Even less if it had Todd looking so suspiciously at him like this.

And what if the first word that came to his head was _cute_ upon seeing him like this, with sleep still present in his features? And what if his heart did a little flip at the sight of his eyes lighting up when Dirk entered the room? It meant _nothing_ , and he could totally ignore it all in sake of not making this any more weird than it already was.

So he ducked his head, accepted the warm cup from his hands and muttered a quiet _‘thanks’._ Todd, who luckily was still a bit asleep to notice the falseness of his smile, nodded at him and looked back at the interrogation taking place.

“Hard awakening?” he guessed with his eyes fixed on Farah’s irritated gestures.

“Why do you thin so?” Dirk asked as he let the smell of his drink reach his nose.

“You’ve got two different shoes on.”

He looked down to where, effectively, he was wearing a brown shoe on his left foot and a black one on the right. Apparently he was still little distracted.

“In my defence, I wasn’t at the fullest of my abilities.” Todd chuckled beside him. “Did you get anything yet?” Dirk asked, giving the first sip to his cup and enjoying the heat that contrasted with the general low temperature of the motel. It was tea, and exactly the way he liked it. He tried to hide the surprise on his eyes, but judging by Todd’s smirk he did notice it.

“Nothing too important,” he answered, covering his satisfaction by tasting his own drink. Coffee, presumably.

“We were waiting for you, anyway,” Hobbs said from his place. “You know, maybe you could do a holistic and help us out with this.”

Dirk tried to omit how he didn’t know what ‘doing a holistic’ meant. He was sure Hobbs didn’t know either.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said instead.

Dirk walked to where the little child was looking with a self-satisfied smile at the growing exasperation in Farah’s face and voice. She was already pinching the space between her eyebrows, deciding to leave everything to Dirk when he sat in the floor front of the alien.

“Hi Tikao. Good to see you again,” he tried with a smile.

“Enough small talk. Go to the point, Irish,” they answered without skipping a beat.

“I’m, I’m from England,” Dirk corrected with confusion.

“Whatever, same island,” Tikao shrugged.

Dirk decided to omit the comment altogether.

“We were wondering if you could, um, give us some little information about this whole _‘hunt’_ matter,” he emphasised making air quotes with his fingers.

“And why would I do that?” Tikao said dryly.

“Dude,” Tina joined her hands at the fingertips while pushing them towards the child, “you’re tied to a chair.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that part,” they rolled their eyes while pulling from the string keeping him still. “What I meant is, why would I tell you something that would put in danger my people?”

Dirk’s eyebrows pulled together.

“You still think we are with the other guys?” Todd had in his voice the same disconcert he was feeling.

“You’ve done nothing to prove me otherwise. You show up there without further explanation, take me as a prisoner to your awfully big palace in the woods and keep asking me about my team’s plans.” Their expression for once seemed a little less smug and a ton more frustrated. “What do you expect me to believe?”

And they had a point. At their eyes, even if they weren’t teamed with their enemy’s group, they weren’t any better than them. So if he wanted anything else from Tikao, then Dirk had to earn their trust.

“We’re sorry if we gave you that impression, but I can assure you that we are nothing like them. This was all, how to put it, security methodology.”

Dirk asked Hobbs to come over and made a few signs at the ropes under the wary looks of his friends.

“Dirk?” Farah questioned, putting in her voice the most amount of caution she could.

“Do you know what we do?” he continued ignoring her interruption. “What kind of job we have?” Tikao didn’t answer, but they looked mildly interested on what he was going to say next, their eyes completely focused on him instead of Hobbs’ movements behind them. Good. “I’m a holistic detective, and I-”

“Holistic?” Tikao’s voice made Dirk stop, his mouth still hanging open. They looked at him with a light frown, as if the term rang a bell somewhere in their mind. “I’ve heard that word before. But it’s been a long time since someone said it.”

Well that was… surprising, to say the least. And so interesting.

“It refers to my beliefs,” Dirk explained then, proceeding meticulously as not to lose them in the middle, “in the interconnectedness of all things. I follow the sings of the Universe to, help people be where they’re supposed to be. That is, my task. My purpose, I think.”

Dirk lowered his glance to where he was subconsciously picking at his nails. Although he was more confident with his abilities that a year before, speaking about it always was a little hard at first, getting the idea through the other person’s mind. He didn’t know how they could react, and it was always a different response. But when he looked up again, he noticed Tikao was expectant, waiting for his next words. So that had to be a good sign.

“Right now, our purpose is bringing this girl home, back to her family. We didn’t want to interfere with you in any way, it just seems that our search got a _little_ intertwined with yours, hence the interruption of your meeting on the bridge. But, we didn’t intend for things to get this messy, even less come off as enemies, or attackers or anything. We just, need your help,” Dirk concluded. “And then we might help you as well.”

Tikao’s voice was full of mistrust when he asked, “And how would you be of any help to me?”

There was a glint of curiosity on their eyes, and Dirk just _felt_ he was going in the right direction.

“If you give us more information, we will help you find the princess.”

There was a chorus of ‘what?’s following his statement, but Dirk tried to put all the honesty he was capable of in his gaze. Tikao narrowed his eyes at the offer, leaning a little just to prove his interest on it.

“How so?”

“Well, we’ve been told in previous occasions that our abilities to find people are highly remarkable,” he continued with pride in his voice. “We usually manage to find the whole person and solve the whole problem. And in most of our cases they turn out to be alive!”

“Most of them?” They lifted an eyebrow as his mouth twisted in a face of suspicion. “And how many would that be?”

“It’s a two out of three type of situation.”

“Right, and how many people have you looked for so far?”

Dirk snorted at this, “Lots of them. Well, some. Perhaps a few. Okay, three, but that’s not what matters here!” he had to stop himself before he started rambling. “We want you to help us with this.”

But they still didn’t look convinced about it. Tikao’s whole body had turned from Dirk during the conversation, and their nose was wrinkled at the same time their lips were tightly pressed into a frown.

Dirk’s eyebrows raised the moment an idea crossed his mind.

“Although it’s not like you really have a choice. I mean, since you’re still here,” he continued with a resolute tone, knowing that now he had the upper hand, “then I am sorry to inform you that you are already involved in all of this, and you have no other option than helping us.”

Dirk thought he heard someone snicker behind him as Tikao’s face changed completely. From secretive and thoughtful, their expression changed into one of indignation, as if they couldn’t believe he even dared to implicate their contribution to the situation.

“What makes you believe that?” they snapped immediately.

“Because so far, not even once the Universe has informed me that we’re going in the wrong direction, which means that you are definitely meant to be here and are now an active part of our investigation, whether you want it or not.” Dirk sat back with a proud smirk. He knew he was showing off, but _Hell_ if he wasn’t enjoying it. “And you can not step back, even if we wanted to. You would just end up being involved in it one way or another.”

Tikao looked at those behind him, looking for a sign that said he was joking, or even lying to them. By the permanent frown on their face it was obvious they didn’t find it.

“He- he’s not being serious, right?” they asked, their tone just a bit too hopeful.

Todd sighed before a playful smirk took place on his face.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how serious he is.”

The ropes that tied them fell to the floor, and Tikao observed their now free arms finally could move apart from their body. Dirk sat up from his place to kneel in front of them, extending his hand in the kindest way he could.

“So?” he said with an easy smile that he hoped inspired trust. “Are you ready to take control of the situation before it takes control of you, or do you still want to ignore your intake in all of this?”

Tikao inspected his hand with apprehension. Dirk just hoped that it was enough. It had worked with Hobbs a year ago, and even with Todd before him. It was something about fate that always seemed to finally make people understand the role they were playing. But Tikao was an alien, with different rules and ideas than the people he’d come to know, so Dirk wasn’t sure if that was enough to get them on his side.

His doubts were erased the moment their tiny hand wrapped strongly around his.

“Deal,” they said, ignoring Dirk’s complete beam, “but tell her to keep her gun out of my face.”

They pointed at Farah, who still seemed a little reluctant about the idea of letting them free. But it took only one pleading look from Dirk until she put the gun back in the holster she left on the couch and raised her hands in defeat.

“Good,” they nodded, crossing their arms over their chest after propelling themselves down of the chair. “Alright, what do you want to know?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, I love powerful Amanda...


	9. IX. The Last Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya! It's me, I'm back, and yes, with another chapter before a month had passed, who would believe it?
> 
> This one is special because of two reasons:
> 
> 1) There are a lot of revelations here in regards to the plot and the characters -the most relevant ones are those from the plot, but it's still important.
> 
> 2) Because today is already a year since I registered in AO3!! WHich means it's been a year since I've started writing for this fandom. I can't believe this it feels like I only opened my account six months ago. But well, time flies...
> 
> Anyway, enjoy your reading and if you like it consider leaving a comment, it fills me with joy and it makes me want to write more.

They had moved into a more comfortable position since they started talking. In one hand, to shake off the interrogatory atmosphere that surrounded them until now, and on the other hand to alleviate the pain that started to make his back ache from sitting on the floor for so long. Instead of hard and rigid chairs, Dirk was now comfortably sat on the armchair from the living-room close to the entrance. His friends were sitting around him as well, all of them paying attention to the small child sitting cross-legged on the armchair opposite to him.

“So, to understand what you’re asking me, I guess you need a little of context,” Tikao informed them as they made themselves comfortable. “To comprehend _why_ we do what we’re doing.”

“Our people had always had to coexist with the Slendrens. According to the stories, we’ve always been nations of pacific nature, there weren’t many conflicts between us. Sure, they were annoying as hell, but all in all they didn’t bother us so we didn’t either.

“Or that was until Pollock was born. Eighty-something years ago, my people saw the birth of our next leader. Everyone says that that day they celebrated it with a festival like no other. Everyone was happy for the little creature, it was time to renew the crown. 

“But the Slendren weren’t that happy. Their leader asked ours to get rid of him immediately, alleging that they would only bring destruction and chaos to Venus.”

“But why?” Dirk felt the need to ask. “He was only a baby.”

There was an injustice to it that he felt deeply in his bones. Apparently Earth wasn’t the only place where people catalogued children as problems to send as far away as possible.

Tikao set their lips in a frown as they shook their head to the sides. “Of that I’ve got no answer. It was a delicate subject, so they’ve never informed us of  _what_ exactly made the kid so dangerous. And it’s been so long ago that at some point, we stopped asking.

“What I _do_ know however, is that my people tried to send Pollock away to keep him far from the Slendrens. They had been pretty clear on their threats and we didn’t know what they were capable of. 

“We sent him to Earth, disguised as one of yours in a way that wouldn’t need more than one dose of our customising substances. He was put in a pod that would go unnoticed in your planet, where one of our functionaries would go for the prince and put him in a shelter. But when our man arrived, the baby was gone.

“No matter how much we tried to make them confess, the Slendren never admitted having taken our heir. They even were indignant about it! Can you believe that? As if there was another logical explanation for it…

“So some sort of war began on our planet. We didn’t have direct combat, but we did do everything in our reach to make their lives miserable. And things were remotely good. We were still angry, but there were no big problems with it. In fact, if you ask me, with two or three more decades we would’ve even believed them.

“Until their heir was born.”

“Princess Nariaan,” Farah supplied, already understanding where the story was leading to.

Tikao nodded. “They tried to hide her, hide the fact she was even born. When our infiltrated man told us about the news, our leaders got royally pissed. We knew they were afraid of what we could do with that information, and if they did, it had to mean they were guilty of something.

“So we saw the opportunity and we took it. We knew they were going to send her here like we did years before, and that day we hacked their system to follow the coordinates. We discovered she was being sent to a Slendren fort in the vicinities of this town along with one of their officials. But when we came for them, the official had been horribly murdered and the girl was nowhere to be seen.

“And the princess was lost for years. The conflicts got worse since that. The Slendren blamed us for it, saying we took her away, or worse! That we killed her! Of course that was all bullshit, we couldn’t even intercept their pod. We were just as lost as them.”

“But not anymore,” Dirk guessed. By the way Tikao’s lips quirked with something close to satisfaction and pride, it was clear he was right.

“Indeed,” they continued. “We had built a central here on Wombourne, as well as in other close towns, in case she tried to contact her people or they came for her. And a few days ago, a little before you appeared on that bridge, we got her first signs. We decided to relocate all our forces to this establishment and continue our search.

“And that’s it,” he lowered his head to where his hands were tightly joined in his lap. “There’s nothing more I can tell you.”

Saying he felt ecstatic was selling it cheap. They had new information. A  _lot_ of information, and full with drama, nothing less. It was a good step in the right direction, Dirk could feel it by the way something close to a hunch fluttered happily inside his chest. Now that Tikao had told them the truth, they could finally move on to a solution-

“You’re lying,” Todd intervened his merry thoughts.

Or perhaps not  _all_ the truth.

“What?” Tikao reacted indignant, wrinkling their nose without believing what they were being accused of. “I’ve told you everything you needed to know, why would I lie?”

Todd leaned over, shifting his weight on his elbows resting on his knees. “Then what is that thing in your hands you’ve tried so hard to hide from us since we captured you?” 

Dirk saw how Tikao froze in their place. Lowering his eyes, he noticed the glint that came from the reflection of the light entering through the window shining in between his little hands. Dirk didn’t even try to hide the pride from his expression. Todd was getting better and better with his detective work, and Dirk always found himself feeling something funny on his stomach whenever he accomplished a new discovering. He probably should promote him at some point…

“Look,” Todd closed his eyes, pinching the space between his eyebrows as he spoke, “we know this might be hard for you, but we want to help.” When he looked back at them, there was less irritation in his eyes. “And we can’t do that if you keep stuff from us. Are you on board of this or not?”

Tikao forcefully let the air out through their nose as they extended their hand, the object in question facing towards them. It was a clock. An old one, made of gold. The design itself was somewhat antique, with the delicate Roman numbers and the long and slim  clock hands . It even had the golden chain attached to it an all. Dirk took it in his hands as Tikao began to explain himself.

“It’s the key,” he said begrudgingly. “To our main base.”

But the longer Dirk saw it, the stronger he felt like something about it was off. Like the feeling you get whenever one of your friends came in with a shortcut that was a little too short, looking very similar to their usual selves but with something about them that rang alarms inside your head.

“A clock?” Donna’s voice startled him as she leaned over Dirk’s shoulder to get a look at it. “I don’t see how that could work as a-”

“It’s broken,” Dirk said, standing up maybe a little too quickly.

“Broken?” Farah frowned with incredulity. “Are you sure about that?”

“Excuse us, Tikao,” Dirk lowered the artefact to send a curious look towards the alien, “but do all Venus clock function backwards?”

In effect, the  clock hands moved counterclockwise . It took him a while to identify what felt so out of place, but once he noticed it, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was terribly wrong. 

“It’s not broken,” they rolled their eyes, still with their arms folded over their chest. “It’s the detail we implemented to differentiate it from your normal devices. If it mixed with others we could spot the one we needed easier.”

Dirk doubted there could even be a chance for it to mix with one of their kind considering how few people still had a clock like this one, but he opted for keeping his mouth shut. Farah always said there were times where it was better to remain silent and he had the impression this was one of those.

“And where’s your place, Mr Alien?” Hobbs asked when they handed him the clock.

“In the orphanage.” 

Donna straightened herself in less than one second, her eyes flying to where Tikao still looked away from them.

“You mean the one that’s been closed for five years?”

“There’s an abandoned orphanage?” Tina questioned in a low voice. “What kind of village is this?”

“Why do you think it was closed on first place?” they said with the same smugness Dirk was used to hear on them.

“Which means we already have somewhere to go and investigate,” Todd said with an optimistic smile. “First Panto and now Tikao, why do we always wait to talk with the guys that seem to know what’s going on?”

“I don’t know, have you tried not throwing them to truck doors?” Tikao returned with a bit of malice in his eyes. “Or perhaps you take them all prisoners, I think that must keep their mouths shut, don’t you think?”

Todd sighed, rolling his eyes before saying, “You know what? I take that back.”

“But how are we going to get in?” Farah questioned aloud with a hand on her chin. As usual, the voice of reason. “It’s not like we can simply show up there after we attacked them on the bridge.”

“Yeah, you really put yourself in disadvantage with that,” Tikao laughed as he sat back on the armchair.

“Then we have to infiltrate!” Dirk suggested with a brilliant grin. “You know, pick some locks, take down some doors, and… just the general forced break-in stuff that Farah surely can do. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t done that before.”

“Excuse?” Donna inquired with an alarmed raise of eyebrows.

“Oh don’t worry,” he calmed her putting a hand on her shoulder, “we are not fugitives, the CIA made sure of it.”

“Right...”

She didn’t sound so convinced though.

“If you want to get in without being seen, I say you enter through the back.” Tikao’s eyes had a different look, one that stopped being reclusive and appeared more as trouble-making. Dirk didn’t know if that was good or bad, but he preferred leaving that problem for future-Dirk. Apologises in advance. “There’s a garden entrance there that no one really uses since we installed ourselves. If you use the key, I don’t think you’ll have any problem getting in.”

“Aren’t you coming with us?” Tina said, sounding one part confused and two parts suspicious. 

“Hell no,” they laughed, leaning back on their place. “If they see me in there with you they’ll think I’m an accomplice instead of a hostage. Thanks, but I pass.”

“And how exactly are we going to get in the garden?” Farah prompted them, already thinking on a break-in plan.

Donna was frowning, pensive, before she raised a finger in the air. “The Last Moon!”

“What does the Moon have to do with a garden?” Dirk asked before frowning. “Do you want us to go to the Moon?”

“No, no, it’s a club,” she explained them. “It’s on the street behind the orphanage, the back of it is connected with the garden Tikao was talking about.”

“How do you know that?” Hobbs asked, passing the clock back to Farah. “Have you gone there?”

This left Donna blushing as she put a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“It’s not, um, my style, precisely,” she chuckled. “A little too punk for me, but I’ve heard the rumours of what happened when other guys tried to get in and-” she gave one more look at Tikao, “-now I understand most of them.”

“What rumours?” Dirk tilted his head with interest as he went back to sit on his previous place.

“There’s been many groups of teenagers that went for a fun night there and came to say they saw flashing lights or heard voices and laughs coming from the inside. Of course no one believed them, they all said the kids were just having drunk fun.”

Dirk wondered how many of those stories were for the aliens making them aware of their presence and how many were for the alcohol in their systems.

“Oh my God, we’re going to a punk club!” Tina shook her hands in the air before her with excitement. “My fifteen-years-old me is _dying_!”

“Well, then I guess we’ll need other clothes,” Todd thought aloud.

Dirk snorted at that. “Uh, I don’t think that’ll be necessary, Todd. I’m pretty sure we packed enough clothes to have an outfit for every occasion.”

“Yeah, Dirk, I’ve been to many of these places and...” Todd looked down at his fluffy mustard sweater and his mismatched shoes, “you don’t have them.”

Dirk frowned at his words, but decided to let him have it. 

Tina surprised Todd by clinging to his shoulder and shaking him back and forth as she let out sounds of joy.

“I can’t believe we’re going shopping together!” she claimed with a big grin. “Dude, bring back your old Mexican Funeral taste and we’re gonna _kill_ it!”

Todd didn’t look nearly as excited for that as Tina sounded.

“Maybe I could go with you,” Farah suggested, her lips curling at the corners in a soft smile. “After all, you’re gonna need someone to drive you there and back.”

And for Dirk’s surprise, Tina’s exhilarated response died a little with her words. The light in her eyes didn’t shine as bright, and her smile fell into a grimace of rejection.

Hmm. Weird.

“Uh, I think Hobbs can drive us instead,” she said, freeing Todd’s shoulder from her grip and walking towards the bedrooms. “Besides, you’re not the type of _moving_ too much, aren’t you, Farah?”

And without other word, she disappeared in the hallway of doors. Hobbs followed her right after, calling her name in a way that sounded a lot like a reprimand.

It didn’t escape to Dirk the brief moment Farah let her emotions break through her overall constructed self control. She looked as if someone had hit her and she just couldn’t believe it happened. But a second after that she recomposed herself, hiding the hurt behind a mask of indifference and professionalism. 

She turned to Donna and Tikao, who were uncomfortably looking at her.

“If we’re getting in, we’re uh, going to need a map,” Farah said with several short nods, shoving her hands to the back pockets of her jeans. “To, you know, not walk in circles in the dark.”

It took Tikao a moment to register she was talking to them.

“Uh, right. Of course, sounds logic,” they cleared their throat with embarrassment. “I’m uh, going to need paper.”

“Sure!” she nodded, putting on a smile that looked way to fake. “I think there’s some in my bedroom. I’ll, uh, go get it.”

And so she escaped with quick steps in direction to the rooms.

Dirk cast a doubtful look towards Todd, who watched the whole situation with more pity than confusion. When he noticed Dirk was questioning with his eyes, he finally reacted. 

“I’m taking, uhh, Tina and Hobs to, you know,” he awkwardly pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the principal door. “You might want to, like, ask her about it.”

Dirk didn’t waste more time before going after Farah.

He found her in her room, where the open door showed her leaning over her desk on her hands, her face facing down towards the floor. Dirk knocked a few times to announce himself. Farah lifted her head then, looking frightened for a fraction before seeing that it was only Dirk. She sat down on the chair, resting her forehead on her folded arms as he got in, closing the door after him.

Dirk walked over to her, trying not to disturb the general tidiness of the room. He felt like an intruder in there. He knew Farah needed her time and didn’t like to be bothered when she was in this emotional state, but he had to ask. He knew he had.

He didn’t know whether to sit on the floor next to her or remain standing, so he settled for uncomfortably leaning on the desk instead. He pursed his lips, hesitatingly patting her in the shoulder in lack of a better thing to say or do. She didn’t push him away, Farah was already used to Dirk’s general lack of terrain in this type of situations.

She sighed. 

“I guess you saw the disaster that that was,” Farah guessed. She didn’t lift her head from her safe place though, her voice being muffled by the wood beneath her.

“It wasn’t _that_ bad-” One flat stare from her made him stop mid-sentence. “Okay, maybe it was bad, but not _that_ bad!”

Farah groaned, sinking further in the small fort her arms created. Dirk didn’t like how that sounded. 

Farah was by herself a pretty nervous person, always stressing about the little things of life that didn’t go along with her plans, which meant he was already used to calming her in settings that left her uneasy. Alright, maybe he wasn’t, it was usually Todd the one who brought her back to her senses and knew how to do it  _right_ . But he was indeed used to see her in this worried or anxious state.

What he  wasn’t used to was the sad tone that ringed with her groans this particular time. Something about it told him it ran a bit deeper than a misstep in her routine or a break in her thoroughly planned schedule.

“Um, I’m sorry to interrupt your wallowing-” Another groan. “-but I’d like to, perhaps, understand the reason, behind it?” he adventured.

Then Farah sat straight on the chair, slamming her fists on the table and startling Dirk in the process. She took a deep breath and let the air out with a sigh.

Yeah, that didn’t sound like a happy Farah at all.

“Tina and I are having a, discussion.” she spoke, slowly, as if still trying to come in terms with the fact that it was happening.

“Well, I pretty much figured that part out-” 

“She wants me to move with her.” She said it in a burst. “To Bersberg. As in, real, living together, kind of move away.”

Dirk opened his mouth only close it right after. Then he opened it again, and closed it once more.

“That is,” he frowned and narrowed his eyes, minding to carefully plan his next words, “great? I think?”

Farah sighed, the sound bordering the whine category, and deflated in her chair.

“Or not, it’s actually terrible, and you should probably break up with her.”

She looked up at Dirk, a crease appearing between her eyebrows as confusion settled in her features. 

“Sorry, but I think I’m getting mixed signals here, so excuse me for not knowing what I’m supposed to say.”

Farah moved her chair to face him, extending her legs to cross them in the ankles and fully leaning in her side. She seemed to be melting into the desk, almost as if she wanted it to swallow her entirely.

“I just, don’t know what to do anymore.” She came to rest her head in one hand and moved the other along with her words. “It’s like, I have a lot of options and I─ I don’t know what the right choice might be.”

“Probably the one you want to do?” Dirk raised an eyebrow, thinking that’s pretty much the easiest answer.

Farah huffed, “Easier said than done.”

She covered her eyes with her hand, blocking entirely her view. Dirk cleared the space to fully seat on top of the desk, looking for a more comfortable position in what he already felt would be a long conversation. 

“So, you think it’s hard?” 

He let it there for her to answer if she pleased, an invitation to open up.

Farah took the hand out of her eyes, looking at him before lowering her hands to her lap.

“There’s a lot to think about it, it’s not that simple.”

“Why not?” Dirk’s eyebrows knitted in his forehead. To him it was pretty straightforward, like a yes or no question, something you either wanted or not. Which led to another question. “Do you not want it?”

She chuckled humourlessly. “Yeah, I do. We would be closer, have more time together. I’d have the work of my dreams. How could I not want it?”

Dirk could agree it was a nice picture. It sounded like everything Farah had ever wanted to achieve in life, right there, at just one ‘yes’ of distance from being true. In fact, if he didn’t know her that much he’d say she was crazy for not accepting it right away.

But as he  _did_ know her, he knew there was something else apart from it. Something she wasn’t saying, probably even to herself

“Then what else is there to think?” he prompted. Perhaps, if he made her talk more, she would reach that conclusion too.

“Well, the Agency, for example,” Farah extended her free hand towards him. There was a desperation in her voice, ringing along with a bit of hope. “How would you manage without me there? And I mean, that job is all you ever wanted, it’s your _dream._ How could I not be a part of it?”

“ Ok, first off, you’re definitely underestimating our ability to maintain a business.” She directed a deadpan stare at him. “Well, perhaps we would call you regularly, but that’s it! Besides, that wouldn’t mean you’re less of a part of it since you’re the one who helped me make it come to life.”

“But I wouldn’t _be_ there!” She stressed it with both her voice and her hands. “I am your friend, and I know how much you care about us, I can’t just… go away like that.”

Dirk pressed his lips into a tight smile. “Thanks for worrying about me that way. But there’s  _something_ telling me that’s not what you care about.”

Farah raised her eyebrows, looking surprised as she crossed her arms defensively over her chest.

“What do you mean?” she said in a more serious tone.

“ _Well_ ,” Dirk dragged his words as he stood up from the desk, opting for taking the spot at the end of her bed instead. “It seems to me that there’s something you don’t want to admit, not even to yourself. You’re hiding behind all of these excuses to not accept the real fact behind why you don’t want to take this decision.”

She opened her mouth, staying agape for a moment. After a few tries of producing sounds she finally shook her head with lips pressed into a line.

“I-I think you’re wrong. I’m obviously _not_ doing that, why would I avoid-?”

“We’re talking about the life of your dreams, Farah,” Dirk rolled his eyes with an easy smile. “Lots of people in your position wouldn’t even doubt before saying yes, there has to be something important holding you back in your indecision.”

“Are you implying you’re not important to me?” she adventured lifting her chin.

He chuckled, “Although I like the implication that Todd and I would be reason enough for you to think this over more than once, I am not as bold to assume we would be why you decided to stay.” Farah still looked at him reluctant. “Seriously Farah, what is keeping you back?”

She sighed again, and this time Dirk knew she had an honest answer to that question. She leaned on her elbows to get closer to him, and Dirk himself tried to move forward, willing to pay the attention he knew she needed right now.

“I want to say yes.” She spoke with her eyes fixed on her joined hands, but at least now her voice sounded clearer, more decided. “More than anything. But, I’m not sure if this is what I am supposed to do.”

“That sounds like something I would say.” Dirk frowned. “That’s, not always a good thing.”

She chuckled, and he was happy to take some weight out of the conversation. By the shadows in Farah’s face Dirk knew it was hard for her to come to terms with. But he was here, and he was her friend, so he sure as hell would try to make it easier for her.

“What I mean is, this sounds too good to be true and… I don’t know if I can keep up with that.” Dirk’s silence forced her to explain herself a little better. “It sounds like a level of happiness that I don’t want to ruin. Things like they are now are good. With problems, yeah, but… we’re good.” Farah lifted her eyes to meet Dirk’s, and in them he saw a lot of self-doubt. 

And suddenly something lit up on Dirk’s mind.

“This isn’t about Tina,” he guessed. “This is about _you_.”

“I don’t want to mess another thing up,” she continued, only to prove Dirk’s point right. “It’s not that I don’t love her, but what if moving there ends up making our relationship go worse? What if she realises that I am not capable of maintaining something like this? What if I only end up proving the mess that I am?”

She sounded lost, and Dirk hated to hear that lack of confidence on her. Farah was the strongest person Dirk had ever met, fragile wasn’t a good sound on her. Even more because Dirk knew what it felt like. All the over-thinking, the double-check while making decisions, fearing more than anything that you could do it just right so no one would push you away.

But Farah didn’t deserve that feeling. She didn’t deserve any of that, and Dirk was more than happy to prove her wrong any time.

“Farah, did I hear wrong?” Dirk squinted at her, and she questioned him with her eyes. “Are you putting you happiness in hold because of a _‘what if’_? Wow, and I thought _you_ were the clever one.”

“Sorry?” she asked indignant.

Dirk joined his palms together to illustrate his words. “You’re sitting here, being the wonderful person that you are, and you tell me you’re keeping yourself away from what could be the best decision in your life because you are afraid of something that might not even happen?”

“But it could,” she stressed again.

“And? A bolt of lightning _might_ strike me if I go out in the rain, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t go out with a spoon to the park.”

“Why would you go out with-? That’s, not what matters,” she resolutely shook his head, ignoring Dirk’s _perfect_ use of a metaphor.

“Exactly!” he remarked, widening his eyes and opening his hands. “The point is, you never know what could happen if you never try.”

Dirk put a hand on top of hers to give it a soft squeeze. She returned the gesture with a tight smile, crinkling her eyes in the corners.

“Look, you are a wonderful woman, and Tina knows that,” he assured her. “But you should have this conversation with her and stop putting excuses-”

“For my excuses,” she concluded with a knowing look. “Todd told me all the Zen stuff you said to him back in the case with Patrick.”

“Good then, because it was one of the best speeches I’ve ever done and I don’t think I could top that now.”

Farah laughed with him, and although her laugh still sounded a little watery, her eyes had no trace of the shadows he’d seen before. If not, they looked brighter. She stood up to grab the paper she came looking for, but when he stood up she froze in her place. Before Dirk could ask her if there was something wrong, she turned around and hugged him. He was surprised by it, but reacted immediately by wrapping his arms around her as well.

“Thank you, Dirk,” Farah whispered from the place on his shoulder where she had rested her chin. 

“Don’t worry,” he said back, a smile fighting to pull from his lips, “I’ll always be available to call you out in your bullshit.”

This earned him a hit on his arm, but it was  _totally_ worth it.

Coming out of Farah’s room, his eyes felt attracted by the movement coming from one of the doors from the hallway. Farah was walking ahead of him, so she didn’t notice he had stopped and she abandoned him in front of the particular dorm.

The 123 rd room.

The door wasn’t completely closed as Donna liked it to be, but it was leaning on the frame, letting a few rays of the morning sunshine come in through the thin gap. Dirk opened the door a few inches, getting close enough to spy through it. Once he saw what was inside, he opened it fully.

“Mona, what are you doing here?” he asked coming into the room. He made his way through the pieces of scrap on the floor while eagerly trying to reach the bed. “I tried to find you earlier, but I didn’t─ ”

“ _Shhh_ ,” Mona interrupted him bringing a finger to her lips. “The old lady is crying, Dirk. Show more respect!”

Mona was sat at the end of the bed, in her full, whispering, human form, next to the  distraught figure of Mrs Denver that was currently looking down at the floor. Her shoulders went up and down with low sobs, and Dirk felt stupid for not having figured that out earlier.

He walked over to her, instead, carefully extending a hand towards her shoulder like he had done with Farah only minuted before. However, when he saw the woman flinch at the touch he decided against it, retiring his hand immediately next to his side. He knew the woman from no more than three days, it was impossible for him to know what type of comfort she needed right now. 

He lowered himself, kneeling before her to try and get a glimpse of her face. But she didn’t want him to see her, because she hid behind the curtain of his short hair, successfully covering her features. In her hands, Dirk saw she had the picture Todd and he had used as reference the day they found Hector, the one where the four of them stood, happy and proud, in front of the recently inaugurated Eastern Sun. 

He tried to look for some advice in Mona, but where she had been seconds ago, now appeared a  tissues box.

_How convenient, darling,_ Dirk thought. It seemed he had to go through this alone.

“Um, Mrs Denver? Are you, how can I say this, uh, alright?” Dirk asked, mentally slapping himself for the stupidity of his own question.

“Where did the young lady go?” she asked back, her voice barely differing from a whisper.

“Oh, Mona?” Dirk took his look to the hand taking one of the Kleenex. “It’s the tissues.”

“Oh, she brought them for me?” The woman blew her nose loudly before adding with a marvelled tone, “How considerate of her...”

“Eh, no, Mrs Denver. She _is_ the  tissues,” Dirk corrected. He noted how she froze in her place. “She can turn into whatever she likes.”

“So, I am...” she trailed off, sending a horrified look to the Kleenex in her hand. 

“Oh no, of course not, you don’t have to worry about that. She is alright. In fact, many times in the office we got confused and used Mona instead of the real supplies, but I can assure you, she isn’t affected at all. Actually, she’s rather honest that─ ” He was interrupted by another blow of her nose. “Um, what is wrong?”

Mrs Denver left the  tissue  aside, and she leaned closer to Dirk to show him the picture. She was lovingly stroking the place where Arianna was, and once she was sure he was paying attention, she pointed at her with a trembling finger.

“I was thinking about her, my daughter, she─ Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty happy that you found all the people that disappeared in the town, and perhaps the Alien can help to your case too, but… I still have no idea where my kid is.” In her voice, there was a trail of the tears that rolled down her cheeks, and only hearing that gave Dirk the worst of heartaches. “I just wanna know how she is. If she’s cold, or perhaps hungry. If she feels lost, or alone. I want to be sure she’s alright, even just if she’s alive.”

Dirk raise da tentative hand to place it on top of hers, wishing he could transmit through the touch the emotions coiling in his chest.

“I swear that we will find her, Mrs Denver─ ”

“Claire.”

“Sorry?” he asked again.

“You can call me Claire.”

Dirk smiled with kindness. “Claire then. We’ll find your daughter, we’re gonna make sure she comes back with her family.”

She passed a thumb over the image of the smily young woman, with her  vigorous eyes shining even through the paper.

“I still remember the day she found us,” she said with a smile small filtering through her voice.

Dirk found himself frowning, quite unsure of the meaning of what she just said.

“Excuse me for intruding, but did you just say… found?”

She nodded. “Ari isn’t my biological daughter. We adopted her after she came to us.”

That was an important piece of information. Dirk felt the curiosity picking at his insides, dying to know more about the mysterious girl he still didn’t know how could fit with the rest of the case.

Up until now, Arianna has only been a lost  piece of the puzzle that conformed their case, the initial  piece even. And although she had been the one to start their investigation, to bring the job to them, Dirk still couldn’t figure how she was connected with the other factors. She didn’t seem to have anything to do with the first missing people, nor was she related with the intergalactic fight they were involved in now.

Perhaps, if he knew a little more about her past, he could finally discover what role she played in this story.

“Sorry if this is a little intrusive, Claire, but would you tell me how did you find Arianna exactly?”

“Oh, it’s no problem at all,” she shook her head lightly, leaving her slouched pose to straighten her back and absently taking the photograph up to her chest. “But you see Dirk, we didn’t find her, she was the one to find us. It’s important that you know that.”

Her eyes zoomed out, as if she was going back to the memory she was trying to evoke, replaying the sequence as she told it to him.

“It happened seven years ago. Donna was coming with me from a business trip in the crowded part of the city. The road back then was nothing like it is now; we were in the middle of September, so the snow was nowhere to be seen. However, at the time it was surrounded by mountains and forests, so it was impossible to see the figure coming at us. She appeared a few metres away, leaving us enough time to react and stop before hitting her. Obviously we got immediately off of the car, Ari was in awful conditions, and we almost hit her! We couldn’t just leave her there.”

“What kind of conditions?” Dirk inquired with growing curiosity.

“Terrible ones. She looked _too_ thin, to the point she looked  undernourished. Her eyes didn’t focus when we tried to make her open them, and her head couldn’t stand on her own neck. To be completely honest, she looked quite dead-like, tired and hungry as she was. We never really talked about what she had gone through before she came to us, she has always been pretty much reserved about that subject. But let me tell you something, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was as obscure as it seemed.”

Dirk felt compassion for Arianna. He knew damn well how it felt to not eat for days, to feel like your own body doesn’t answer to your commands, to have more bruises in your skin than bones in your body. It was a natural experience from Blackwing, full of periods of consciousness that came and went with the numerous tests and punishments the projects had to go through.

But what the story incited the most in him was curiosity. Old, acquainted, familiar curiosity, tugging from his entire body in direction to an answer. There was something hid in the tale of that encounter, he knew it. Scratch that, he  _felt_ it. The Universe was practically begging him to press and get more information from the elder woman, telling him there was something in there that could mark a huge difference in the result of this case.

He tried not to seem so desperate when he asked, “And what did you do next?”

“We took her to the hospital, of course. It took her a few days for her to recover, but Donna and I went constantly to check on her to be sure of her progress. We felt so guilty about the incident that almost happened to simply bandoneon her in there.”

“Did anyone come to visit her in the time she had been hospitalised?”

Mrs Denver took a hand to her chin in thought. Dirk’s heart made a flip and some cartwheels when she shook her head to the sides.

“No, not that I can remember. That was something strange that surprised both of us. According to her medical reports she hadn’t given any name or number to call, no family member or friend came looking for her either. It was rather odd, she was a young lady, only twenty one years old, how was she didn’t have anyone taking care of her?”

“And then?” Dirk pressed. The tissues box disappeared from the bed, leaving place for a tennis ball that shot itself directly to him, reminding Dirk of trying to have some of the tact he knew he lacked when there was a hunch beating strongly on his chest. “What happened once she was out of the hospital?”

“We brought her with us,” the woman answered defensively, as if she couldn’t believe Dirk even dared to assume they could take another course of action.

“Just like that? Without checking where she came from?”

“Well, of course we discussed it at home. Shawn was already sick at that time, in the early stages of his illness, but he didn’t resist. Even less when Donna was so sure about her position in the matter. She can seem a little rude, but just like you see her she has a way of defending her ideals that I’ve always admired.”

“And you didn’t talk to Arianna about what happened before that?”

“I’ve already told you she didn’t like sharing that information with us. Every time we brought it up she seemed to get all tense, from head to toe. Her eyes opened too widely, like a deer caught in the headlights, and she changed the subject immediately. The last times we tried she even answered aggressively. Evidently it was something she wanted to leave in the past, and she insisted that everything was fine and that nothing bad had happened, but I never could stop thinking about how persecuted she looked. Almost scared, if I had to guess.”

Dirk felt an idea starting to shape in his mind, his  subconscious joining the invisible threads with thoughts and feelings he knew were coming from  _somewhere_ . But it was still incomplete, there was something else missing, just another detail…

“Claire, did Arianna keep anything from her times previous to your family?” Dirk asked with a hint of hope in his voice that he wished wouldn’t be so obvious. If Mrs Denver noticed it, she was too kind to say anything about it.

Instead, she frowned slowly, at the same time her hands retired from her chest. The photograph, now forgotten, was facing down on her lap.

“Actually, I think… I think there was something,” she nodded, moving her raised finger along with her head. “A diary, I think. She never let us open it, even less read it. At least not to us.”

_A diary_ . Something told him he had to chase that loose end.

“To you? Who did she allow?” Dirk asked almost desperately.

He had his hand clenched over the  bedspread of Arianna’s bed, his other hand closed in a fist with equal or bigger strength. He knew he was leaving crescent moon marks on his palm, but right now there was a buzzing in his head that wouldn’t stop screaming, the same kind of buzzing he felt when he got into this very same room for the first time.

“Hector,” Claire continued. “One day we saw him get out of the Bedrooms Aisle with the diary in his hands and a smile from ear to ear. We thought it was suspicious, but we didn’t say anything.”

“And when was that?”

The noise was insufferable, but it came along with a huge feeling of rightness that Dirk just couldn’t ignore.

“A week and a half ago.”

Right before she disappeared.

“Thanks for the story, Claire,” Dirk stood on his feet again, one hand squeezing her for the last time before walking towards the door. “I promise I will find your daughter.”

As soon as he was in the hallway, Dirk started to run. His heart was hammering against his ribcage, the pressure in his head growing almost as much as his smile.

He had to find Hector, only that way he’d get the missing piece of the puzzle.

* * *

When she returned to the Hall, there was no trace of Tina. According to what Donna said, she, Hobbs and Todd had gone right after Dirk went to look for her.

Well, it seemed their talk would have to wait.

And speaking of Dirk, once she joined Donna and Tikao on the lounge she could no longer see the detective anywhere. She supposed he had  deflected in the time it took her to come back, but knowing his nature Farah decided letting him follow the flood of creation, or whatever his saying was.

With Tikao’s help and some observations from Donna, they started to craft the map they’d use once they were inside the orphanage. Despite their first comment once they had freed them, Tikao didn’t seem to have any inhibitions in Farah’s presence. They guided her with certainty and without any of the poisonous comments that had been so distinctive of their person. They seemed to be generally comfortable, feeling on their own terrain in the conversation. Maybe  _too_ comfortable.

“Don’t you feel bad doing this?” she questioned after they wrote down their last note. “Helping us get in the central base of your people?”

Donna looked at her curiously, almost doubtful as she saw her take a turn in the conversation. But Tikao looked relaxed, not feeling indignity over the accusation behind her words at all.

“If you keep your word and help me find the princess then I have nothing to worry about,” they answered with a shrug. “Think about this as an investment, the Wayaards might take it as treason, but by doing so I’ll get to come back as a hero. I guess it’s a win-win situation.”

Farah hummed at this, returning her attention to the  map .

“When did you say you settled in here?” she asked again, passing them the pencil.

“Five years ago,” they said bending over the paper. “I’d like to say it was hard but you humans are very easy to scare away, you have way too many superstitions. Although you have to believe me,” they sat straighter only to show them their amused smirk, “the kids were way too funny to deal with.”

“And how did you know you should settle here?” Donna had fully raised her head from where she was looking at her phone, searching for possible exits. Just in case of an emergency, she’d said. “Like, how did you know the town to know there was a place that fit you so well?”

Farah had to admit it was a very good question. She supposed that, to her, all of this should be really hard to deal with. Due to her previous adventures with the rest of her team, Farah was already used to the whole supernatural stuff. A little reluctant to believe in them, but used to it nonetheless. But to her it was completely new, and nothing less than in her own home.

She could still remember how she felt in her first case, with Patrick’s death and Lydia being lost. Looking at Donna, who had lost two of her  loved ones and that found herself involved in a situation that exceeded her beliefs, she knew she was managing it pretty well. Admirably, even.

“I think I mentioned we’ve been on your planet before,” Tikao continued, pausing for a moment the development of the map to dedicate his attention at the obvious interrogatory he was being thrown under. “We made a few recognition missions over the years, to know in case of an express escape if we could live in your planet without being seen. It was only matter of time until we found this place.”

“How long?” Farah folded her arms as she bent over the little coffee table.

“How long what?” Tikao’s eyebrow shot up on their forehead. 

“How long have you been around without us being aware of it?”

Farah felt like she had to ask. Her uneasiness started to itch, because according to Tikao’s words it seemed that aliens had been amongst them for a period of time longer than the one Nariaan has been missing.

She wondered how many times they’ve come to Earth, and why they never thought of establishing a connexion with them after the many times humanity had made the attempt. And thinking they were here, on plain sight,  hiding among people without anyone realising…

Farah hated uncertainty above anything else, and the feeling she had by only thinking about all of that made her feel sick.

“I see where you’re going,” Tikao warned, straightening themselves from their place on the floor. “And for your information, you _did_ know about us.”

“Impossible,” she denied. “If that was the case all of our encounters would’ve been entirely different.”

“Of course you knew!” Tikao defended themselves, frowning as they left the pencil on the table. “Or at least you knew back then, when people seemed to be much more kind. Your ancestors asked us for help to build pyramids and make calendars, activities way more pretty than being tied to a _chair_.”

“You’re never going to forget that, aren’t you?”

“Not as I live,” he replied with that irritant smugness.

Donna looked amazed as she pushed herself closer to them. “You were here with the Egyptians and the Greeks?”

“And the African tribes and the Mayans,” they added. “There’s more parts of the world, did you know sweetheart?”

Donna  changed her smile for a frown in less than a second.

“Then why didn’t you leave any register!” Farah continued, the questions coming out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Why didn’t they try to, I don’t know, preserve the first interplanetary contact for future generations, it’s one of the best accomplishments humanity has been looking for!”

“According to our investigations, they did it,” Tikao defended, maybe with a tone far too proud, but Farah was willing to let it pass for the sake of information, “it’s just that you didn’t know how to interpret it. And once we saw humanity was too invested in discovering life in other planets we didn’t, ehm, we didn’t see it convenient,” they added with a final look that seemed almost an apology. “Sorry, dude, but you were terrifying.”

“Point taken,” she admitted.

“And how did you know then that the princess was here in our village?”

Tikao rolled their eyes at Donna, “I’ve already said we settled down in the  area surrounding the Slendren  shelters  where─”

“No, I mean… how did you know she was here on Wombourne?”

“Well… I’m not gonna deny it, at first it was hard.” Tikao brought a hand to their neck. They looked uncomfortable describing the process and Farah could tell he wasn’t happy at all with the time it took them. “We were making field investigations in all the places where we suspected she could be and following the Slendren interrogations.”

“And that’s how you found Hector, isn’t it?” Donna inquired with a bit of venom in her voice. Given the conditions in where they found him after being captured by his race, it made sense.

“I guess you can say that. He was so valuable it had to mean something.”

Donna didn’t seem satisfied by his answer, as her expression had turned into one closer to anger. “But what made him so important? Why did it have to be  _him_ ?”

“We don’t really know yet why he was so special for them. I only know that, at the start of our search, the Slendrens started searching too by directly asking. A little straightforward if you ask me but, you do you,” Tikao raised their hands and while giving a short shrug. “The only thing we knew, was that after a while of taking people in and keeping their bodies as vessels...” they stopped once they noticed the equally confused faces. “Oh yeah, I forgot to explain, the guys you saw on that bridge weren’t the people you are looking for, just pale imitations of them made with Venus technology to fit the hideous Slendren’s frames.”

“What? But they looked exactly the same!”

“Well, yeah, that’s the whole purpose of it,” Tikao scoffed with an amused crooked smirk. “I suppose they were taken for interrogation, and once they realised they knew nothing about it disposed them to use as disguises. It’s the same we did with the babies.”

“You interrogated two-year-olds?” Farah questioned with both eyebrows raised.

“Of course not, they could barely talk! But we did make a good use of their bodies...”

“Did you kill them?” Donna said horrified.

“Kill them? Hell no, we are aliens, not monsters. Jeez. Ok so, after the Slendren started taking all that people in to cover their stupid bodies, we knew that one of them was took for the longest time. So we figured he knew something that the others didn’t, and since we don’t play fair, we invaded their ship to try and get him with us. Of course he escaped on that pod, which we… didn’t anticipate. But hey! At least you could find him for that! So you’re welcome.”

Donna didn’t look nearly as thankful as Tikao was surely expecting her to be.

“So you only got your information from what the Slendrens got to guide you here,” Farah concluded.

“Hey, hey, hey, you’re taking us credit, woman. You don’t know how much work it took trying to do all of that without raising suspicions. It was horribly hard trying to get inside their database,” he began to count with his fingers, “in the office of their officials, getting the recordings of their interrogations, follow the pod back here, decoding the message...”

Something  _clicked_ inside Farah’s mind, taking her back to the desk in her room, and the stacks of papers on top of it. Her eyes widened by a few fractions when she thought she had an idea of what Tikao was talking about.

“What do you mean by decoding the message, what message?” 

Tikao looked confused by her words, frowning at her line of questioning.

“It was… a little confusing actually. We got it a few days before, like a week or something. It had strange letters and it took us a lot to decode it---”

“Excuse me for a second.”

It didn’t take her long to go to her room and back to the lounge. There, both Donna and Tikao looked at her as if they didn’t know her, perhaps for the sudden shot of energy that Farah has had, perhaps for the mad expression on her face. After so many time with Dirk, the coincidences on their cases still amazed her as the first time, and once she found a connection it was hard to not get in this state of mind.

She slammed her hand against the table, leaving the piece of paper for them to see.

“Is that what you got in the message?” 

They leaned over to have a better look at it. The paper was a little wrinkled by the excitement with what she grabbed it, but the words were clear. On top of it there was a combination of letters, one that didn’t make sense for any of them. But below, scrabbled in Tina’s hurried handwriting, the words were a lot easier to read.

Earth. Follow the sign. Come in peace.

“Where did you take this from?” Tikao frowned deeper, recognising it as the message they had found.

“In a matchbox.” She looked at Donna, whose eyes were getting wider with realisation. “Arianna’s matchbox.”

“But that’s impossible? How could she even know…?”

“I think I can answer that question.”

Farah turned around, following the sound to the hallway leading to the service room.

Dirk was appeared in front of them, with a huge smile tugging from his lips and a glimmer in his eyes that Farah could only define as proud. Behind him, Hector stood awkwardly but with a look that differed heavily from the resigned one she’d seen in him since they brought him to the motel. This one was full of hope, the worried lines in his forehead far away from her sight at all. Mrs Denver was also with them, holding close to her chest a photograph that she couldn’t identify. Farah’s eyes were very busy looking down at the item in Dirk’s arms anyway.

A book,  lined with  a strange rocky material in violet tones, glowing with an intensity that obscured completely the mustard of Dirk’s sleeves.

“Dirk, what-?” 

“I can answer all of that now, Farah.” The detective practically ran up to them, with the other two following him behind. “But first I need you to let me explain this.”

“Where did you get that book?” Donna looked at it with apprehension if not fear.

“That is the interesting part,” he beamed, slamming the book open on the table. “Although I think our friend Tikao here can give us some leads.”

Tikao was for the first time she knew them completely silent. Their eyes were wide, their mouth hanging fully open, in the expectation of some words going out that never came. They took the book slowly in their hands, inspecting it closer and with extreme care. When Farah looked at Dirk for answers, he simple smiled back and raised his thumbs at her.

“This is a Slendren book,” Tikao whispered after passing their eyes through multiple pages.

“Exactly,” Dirk conceded.

“I, I haven’t seen one of this in ages,” he continued marvelled.

Farah leaned over to get a look at what was inside of the book. The writing was impossible to read, as it was in characters that were like nothing she had ever seen. The images were all drawn with a special ink that glowed almost like the outside of the book. The pictures showed different situations, from what looked like an enthusiastic adult feeding an overly excited child, to fight scenes between two equally strong individuals, and many other descriptions of what she figured were weapons and other utensils.

“Dirk, what is this?” Farah asked him without taking her eyes from the pages.

“A diary, for what I’ve been told.” She could still hear the smile on his voice. “It seems it’s a book full of instructions about how to educate and raise a child according to the Slendren customs.” 

“Where did you even manage to find it?” Tikao asked, lifting for once the eyes from the book in question.

“Well, this is the important part.” He took a seat in the arm of the large couch, crossing his legs at the ankles as he extended a hand over Hector,” Our friend here present was the one keeping the book in the service room. After a very comforting and eye-opening conversation with Mrs Denver I knew that the next step to take was to find the whereabouts of the diary. As it seems, my assumption was correct.”

“This… this is an important clue, man,” Tikao let out a weak laugh as he looked at the book in his hands once more. “This, if this is what I think, it could mean the end of our fight with the Slendrens is closer than I thought.”

“Why? What’s so important about it?” Donna asked, still trying to put her distance from the book.

“Because this diaries are like Slendren manuals,” Tikao explained, placing a hand on top of the cover. “This is the sort of knowledge that every Slendren parent is supposed to have to raise their kid under the laws of their people. So if you are sending someone to another planet, a very important child for the kingdom, and you want it to be raised in the best way...”

“It was from the officer,” Farah said, looking up at where Dirk was nodding along. “The one in charge of taking care of Nariaan.”

“Right, and how did Hector find that?” Donna asked again, crossing her arms over her chest along with her legs.

“ _Because_ ,” Dirk stressed, “someone else had given it to him. The same person that sent that message to our fellow alien friends,” he pointed at the forgotten paper on the table.

“Arianna?” Donna raised her eyebrow, not believing any of his words. “And why didn’t we know about that?”

“Oh you did know it,” Dirk pointed with a raised finger. “The book was just in disguise until that point.”

“Don’t you remember?” Mrs Denver intervened, smiling over at Donna, whose face softened upon seeing her mother. “We saw her give it to Hector that day. It’s the diary Donna.”

At first the woman frowned, but it didn’t take long until her eyes began to open at the realisation.

“Wait, it’s the diary?” she asked incredulous as the other woman nodded. “The one she didn’t want us to look at?”

The one and only,” Dirk answered instead. “Apparently she was very invested in no one knowing of its contents. It seems that it was covered in heavy leather before, at some strong attempt of hiding it from normal eyes that could get easily scared of what it kept inside. It did take some effort to take that off,” he snorted while briefly lifting an eyebrow.

“But how did _she_ get it?” Farah asked again, trying to make Dirk focus on what was important.

“Because it seems we were wrong all this time,” he continued. “We’re not looking for two missing people, but just _one_.”

“That’s not true,” Donna shook her head. “That would mean─”

“Indeed,” Dirk nodded, showing off a proud smile that matched his pleased expression. “Arianna and Nariaan are the same person. Your sister is the princess we were looking for.”


	10. X. The Mexican Funeral

Todd’s life was weird. His friends’ lives were weird. He knew that much by now, and despite how much he complained about it he had mostly accepted it. By this point it was literally impossible to deny it. He’d met a girl in the body of a dog and a dog in the body of a girl; he’s seen his past self and his future self in the same week; he almost got cut in half by a giant pair of scissors from the imaginary land that a kid had created while being on coma. So yeah, he should be over the multiple turns his life seemed to take to break with the ordinary. And yet…

“Wait, so we’re all looking for the same person?”

Dirk, with an overexcited grin, proceeded to confirm his suspicion with a series of short and quick nods.

“Indeed, Todd. I just happen to have solved that with my _incredible_ detecting skills.” He flattened his sweater on his chest as his face glowed with pride. Todd probably should call him out in his cockiness, but he had another more important matter to pay attention to than teasing his boss.

“So the girl we are looking for is also the princess that the people we _were_ looking for, is… looking for, now?”

Damn, he sort of missed not having any work now.

Dirk furrowed his brow immediately after his words.

“Yes… _ish_. Turns out those guys you’re talking about are _not_ the ones we thought, but a different, taller group of aliens that are using their bodies as disguise.”

He smiled shamelessly at Todd, as if that didn’t confuse his recently informed brain a lot more. He looked over at Farah to see if Dirk wasn’t adding any of his so famous ‘dramatic effects’ to the story, but judging by the shrug of her shoulders and the helpless arch of her eyebrows it was the absolute truth.

“Alright, and how did they do that?” 

Dirk intended to answer that question but before he could even speak Farah gave a step forward and answered for him.

“We don’t know that for sure yet.” Her eyes were basically glaring Dirk into silence, which made Todd wonder how pretentious his initial theory could have been. “Tikao says that they might have taken an alternative for their usual method because the ingredients don’t really exist on Earth.”

“Cool, so now we have a group of lost grown-ups hiding in the forest with home-made alien weaponry.” It sounded even crazier when he said it out loud. He sighed, shaking his head to the sides with a little too much disappointment, “And just when we thought things started to make sense...”

Dirk snorted, “When have they?”

And he had to grant him that.

Hobbs, who listened to the whole update report with him, wrung his beanie with nervous hands. “But we’re still going to The Last Moon, right?” He alternated nervous looks between the three of them, like begging them with his eyes to please agree with him. “We’re not going to chase after the potentially more dangerous aliens… Right?”

Todd heard Tikao chuckle from where they and Donna were still going over the map.

“They’re not _that_ dangerous.”

“Oh no, we’re definitely still going,” Farah nodded vaguely, only half listening to the alien’s comment. She looked incredibly fine with all of this, which was what surprised him the most of the situation. “It’s the only lead we have now and we need to investigate it. So unless Dirk has a new hunch-”

“Which is not happening,” the detective insisted.

“-we need to go to that club.”

“Oh, great.” The door of the entrance opened as Tina came in with the shopping bags that she insisted so hard on carrying hanging from her shoulder. “Because we didn’t get all these clothes for nothing.”

She dumped them on the floor right in front of them. They were _a lot_ of clothes.

The trip itself had been 100% more awkward than Todd had imagined. Hobbs was on the driver seat, Tina having called shotgun sat with folded arms beside him, which left Todd alone in the back in the middle of the thickest of all silences. It was pretty uncomfortable, truth be told. Hobbs and Tina didn’t even look at each other, having recently argued back in the motel. They didn’t speak to Todd either, and that left him with the sensation that he shouldn't speak as well.

Tina had been worryingly still all the way to the shops. She just looked forward to the road without moving an inch away from her position. Todd tried seeking her look in the rearview mirror and he could swear, she didn’t even _blink_.

But all of that changed as soon as they got off the vehicle. Her mood switched into a completely different, definitely more cheerful one. She dragged them from store to store, pointing out those items that she believed were _‘punk stylez’,_ whatever that meant. Tina held onto Todd’s arm and poor shoulder ─that would surely need a check from the doctor─ like dear life, asking for him to test clothes and give them the ‘ex-punk member approval’. However, she did keep her eyes away from Hobbs all the time.

But besides that, Todd did enjoy it a little. Tina was always a refreshing person to have around. When he was with her, Todd knew that there was nothing he could do to mess the situation up because there were always chances she could be messing it up even worse than he could've. The only thing he'd been insistent about was that he would choose his own outfit. Seeing what her options for the others had been, Todd felt safer knowing there wouldn't be an excess of chains and leather in his clothes. What she _did_ do was generously offering to pay for it all so he could wait outside with Hobbs. It seemed money wasn't a problem when there weren't many things to spend it on in your hometown.

They helped to give the clothes for everyone as they had planned it. The five of them with Donna’s help would try to sneak into the bar, so they had to choose from a lot of different stores the elements for six very believable punk outfits. It really surprised him how many of the shops had clothes like the ones they picked, but he wasn’t one to question that kind of stuff.

Tina was currently giving Donna a pair of black shorts and a white Vans tank top. Her mood hadn’t changed at all upon arriving at the motel, and she even looked very pleased to help them all get their disguises. Perhaps a little _too_ pleased…

The one whose mood had changed was Farah. She clutched the clothes he’d given her close to her chest as her eyes wandered to where Tina smiled at Dirk while stomping a black leather… _something_ , in his arms. Her eyebrows were pulled together and her lips were pressed into what looked like a sad pout. The longing in her eyes made Todd want to look away.

“Hey.” He placed a hand gently on her arm, making her eyes fly back to his. Farah looked surprised, like if she hadn’t noticed what she was doing until he made her come back to herself. “Everything okay?”

Farah sighed, frowning at the few clothes in her hands. There was a lot of white and black.

“I talked with Dirk...”

“And?”

She looked back at Tina. She seemed to be trying to convince Dirk into trying the clothes she’d given him. The detective still looked a little reluctant as he eyed the items that were definitely nothing like the ones he had on himself.

“He said I have to talk to her.”

Her voice was almost a whisper when she spoke. Todd could see in her face how terrified she felt, and it was understandable if you knew Farah as well as he did.

Todd lightly squeezed her arm to make her look at him, “It’ll be fine.”

“Do you think?” she asked, far too desperate for a positive answer and yet sounding so hopeless.

“I know so. You’re Farah Black, you’re basically James Bond but better,” he joked. That seemed to lift her up a little because her lips twirled upwards as she knocked his hand off her arm. “You fought many battles and won without even breaking a sweat. I’m sure you have the courage to do this.”

“I hope it turns out all right.”

“It will. I promise.”

He followed her eyes back to their friends. Tina was now pushing Dirk towards the bedrooms with a dangerously broad smile, all while he looked back at her with the best puppy eyes he could pull to convince her of a swap of clothes.

Todd found himself smiling at the sight, smirk getting wider when Dirk sent him a silent pray with his eyes that he could only answer to with an arc of his eyebrows. The look he got back was definitely worth it.

Not so much the one saw when he turned back to Farah.

“So...”

“No,” he cut her off before she could even begin. He knew what she was going to say anyway. “Don’t you even try.”

“Try what?” Farah put on her best innocent face, but Todd could notice the creaks around her eyes betrayed her.

“You know what I’m talking about.”

He started to pick up his own clothes to try them on in his room, but Farah got in his way to the dorms with that stupid look of mischief still on her face.

“Move,” he said, but sounding a lot less aggressive than he intended.

“I saw how you were looking at him.”

“I wasn’t,” he said back, perhaps too quickly for it to be true. And Farah apparently noticed that.

“You are very cute when you have a crush, did you know that?” she smiled sweetly, moving along with him to close his path again. “It’s so sad you’re running away from it.”

“I’m not running away,” he said, moving to the other side to try to run away from this conversation.

“I thought we knew each other better than that, Brotzman.” Her expression softened a little, sending away the amusement that came with her last words to welcome a new, more affectionate look. “When are you going to do something?”

He didn’t know if that was the correct question. It didn’t matter _when_ he was going to do something, but _if_ he was willing to act on it. Just thinking about that made him feel the dreaded butterflies in his stomach, fluttering with his pointy wings until he felt sick. And definitely not in the way that everyone described.

“I don’t know if I will,” he answered honestly, because that was the best he could give her now.

“Why?” she asked back. “Do you not want something to happen between you two?”

If he wanted something to happen? How could he answer that?

How could he tell her about the many times where Todd had wished he could just grab Dirk’s hand without feeling like he was trespassing many boundaries? How could he tell her about all those times where Todd felt like letting his eyes linger for longer on his face would be a disaster? Or about the countless times where he wished he could close the little distance between them, make it even smaller than it already was, until he couldn’t distinguish where his lips started and where Dirk’s ended?

How could he tell her about the days where his heart would pounder in his chest, desiring he could say all the words that his mind whispered to him without being afraid of losing his best friend?

“I’m going to get dressed,” he said instead, because he was a _fucking_ coward.

The clothes were fine. As Todd put them on in front of the long mirror inside the wardrobe he could feel them fitting perfectly with him.

Well, at least in regards to size.

The clothes he had on now were nothing like the ones he picked in the stores. He made sure to grab something he felt comfortable on, like a red flannel shirt with a normal sized pair of black jeans. He could throw on a black jacket to give it a better look, and that would be it. He was sure Tina must’ve changed them while she waited on the queue to pay.

What he had instead was a white and very fit t-shirt with a band’s name on it that he didn’t recognise and that felt a bit too itchy. The jeans were still black, that was good, but they were also a lot tighter. Todd didn’t know if he could even walk in those. And to complete the look, Tina got him a nice dark denim jacket that was a little similar to the one he burned in the Death Maze, almost like a year ago. It wasn’t awful, he’d even dare to say it was his favourite item of the whole pack, but seeing it all together… it still looked somewhat weird.

Perhaps if he could get used to the sight of it, he could think it was a little nice. Although it wasn’t like he really had a choice now, was it?

“I’m going to kill Tina,” he swore half-heartedly.

Todd walked out of his room, decided to storm out to call her out for swapping his clothes, when he heard a very familiar and scared voice coming from one of the closest doors.

“Todd?” He turned around to see Dirk’s head popping out of his own dorm’s door. His eyes looked ashamed as they tried to keep visual contact with him. “Could you come and help me, please? I could really use an assistant right now.”

“Uh, alright?”

He got in to see what the problem was about. Mona was sitting on Dirk’s bed, in full person mode, tilting her head to the sides as she looked at Dirk with a bright smile.

“I told him he looks really nice with those clothes,” she clapped once he noticed his presence. “Don’t you think that too, Todd?”

And yeah, nice wouldn’t be the word Todd would’ve used.

Dirk looked like he was taken right out of the mid-2000’s punk scene. He had a black leather jacket with many silver thumbtacks on it that could easily belong to a rock star from Todd’s teenage years. It opened enough to let him see a very tight white t-shirt with no inscription that stuck to his torso quite perfectly. And as Todd lowered his look he saw… were those leather trousers?

Yeah, nice wasn’t the word Todd would’ve used at all. Dirk looked exactly like the kind of guys he would’ve tried to hit on at a club. He looked exactly like the kind of type that Todd had back when he just started college. He looked…

Okay, he got the point.

But there was something about the outfit that, as much as it left him speechless, seemed a little… off. Weird. Perhaps for the way that Dirk crossed his arm over his chest to try and close the jacket a little more. Perhaps for the way Dirk shuffled on his feet, uncomfortably switching his weight from one to another. Perhaps for the self-conscious expression Dirk had on his face.

Yeah, it definitely felt off, because it didn’t feel like Dirk at all.

He had to clear his throat to regain the ability of speech though.

“Yeah, I─uh, I don’t think it’s that good.” Dirk’s frown deepened, and Mona sent him a sad look. “Not because you don’t look good! It’s just, like… it’s not so… you?”

“Yes, that’s what I thought,” Dirk conceded with a short nod. He himself looked a little distracted. But when he spoke again it sounded a lot shyer. “It… it is a little colourless, isn’t it?”

Todd nodded. Now that the thought came to his mind, with every second passed he seemed to dislike the clothes even more. Of course, it was quite a look. But not one that fitted with the overly bright persona that was Dirk Gently.

“What if─” Todd tried not to tangle his tongue with his own words. He shouldn’t be allowed to talk with Dirk dressed like that in the same room. “What if you use something a little more comfortable?”

“Like what?” Dirk’s small voice asked back.

And without another word, Todd ran back to his room.

When he came back, he did it with a black t-shirt in his hands. Dirk had retrieved the jacket from him, leaving on full display the definitely too tight t-shirt. It was uncomfortably pressed into his body, in a way that made him feel ashamed of staring at it.

He tore his stare from Dirk’s torso to look at his eyes instead. He seemed to be eyeing his own clothes with a weird expression that didn’t seem to decide between looking worried or surprised. Todd didn’t know if any of those were positive emotions, but he wasn’t in conditions to think about that now.

He threw the t-shirt at Dirk, who barely caught it before it hit him on the face. He turned it around to see the logo of the Mexican Funeral, a little worn out for the use but still looking like new. Dirk looked up with one eyebrow lifted, silently asking him about that t-shirt ended in his hands.

“It’s mine,” Todd said, as if that wasn’t obvious already, “so it’s gonna be a little small, I guess, but I think it’ll fit you better than the other one.”

Dirk had told him that he left his own Mexican Funeral t-shirt at home, something about being very serious about not wanting to get shot on it. Todd had thought that was sweet.

Dirk looked down at the t-shirt with a new smile tugging from his lips.

And then he proceeded to take his own t-shirt off.

Todd tried to look away, shamelessly failing at keeping his blush under control as well. He could already feel the heat gathering in his cheeks, and he was certain it wasn’t for the temperature of the room.

Once Dirk finished putting on the new clothes, he looked way much better. The t-shirt still fit him a little tightly, but not enough to make him feel ashamed of letting his eyes wander through it. To be honest, he looked damn well with Todd’s clothes on. And Dirk looked even happier while admiring the new look.

But just a second after finally putting on a smile, he frowned at his reflex. From behind, Todd felt himself mirror his expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s still too black,” he muttered. “It needs a little of colour, otherwise I’ll look highly depressing.”

He then extended his arm towards his bed and gave Mona a sweet pleading look.

“Mona, darling, could you please─?” He didn’t need to finish his sentence before there was a new coloured jacket landing in his hand. “Thanks! That’s exactly what I meant.”

It was light blue. Not as electric as the one that had been ruined by the crossbow, although this one was just as bright. When he turned around, Todd felt like someone had knocked the air out of him.

That was it. That was more Dirk, and he still looked perfectly fit for entering to a punk club without raising suspicions. The colour of the jacket brought out the blue of his own eyes, making them out-stand more than the entirely dark clothes from before. Todd’s t-shirt beneath it was like a familiar touch, one that he didn’t know why but that caused his insides to feel all tingly. And he had kept the leather trousers, which could still be defined as a seriously great choice. Todd had to thank Tina for that.

He still looked like someone Todd would approach in a club, and maybe invite for a drink, perhaps dance a little and if he was lucky, kiss until he felt like they could…

“And?” Dirk prompted just in time before his mind could go further. “Do I look punk enough for you, Mr. I’ve-Been-To-Those-Places-Before?”

Todd noticed he still had his mouth open, and that his eyes were still traveling up and down Dirk’s body. When he looked up to focus on his face, he was looking back at him. Todd wanted to believe he had imagined the satisfied glimmer in his eyes.

“Ye─yeah, you look, uh. Good. For a punk place.” He put his hands in the back pockets of his jeans to find something to do with his hands instead of hanging stiffly on his sides.

“Thank God,” Dirk exhaled with relief. “I wouldn’t want to feel like I was trapped in all that fabric,” he laughs. “Been there before, it’s not nearly as hot as people seem to believe.”

Was that… had he heard right? By the contented look of Dirk’s face, he supposed he did, but he didn’t feel so sure. Not when he felt even more speechless and with his mind traveling places it shouldn’t go this early in the day.

“Yeah… sure,” he coughed. “I will uh, go and see if anyone else needs help. Farah will surely freak out once she tries on her clothes.”

Todd could already feel the heat in his entire face. And just as he was leaving, as if all of that wasn’t enough, Dirk popped his head out of the room and said with a voice so low Todd could have easily missed it:

“Good clothes, the ones you chose.” He was smiling, a sweet and endearing smile that only made his next words feel like a shot straight to the heart, “I don’t know what Amanda was talking about. The punk look definitely suits you.”

As the door shut closed, Todd spun in his heels and practically ran from the dorms, wondering constantly what the hell just happened and why he had to feel so upset about it ending too soon.

* * *

They drove her through the pale white hallways as if they were sending her to her death. She didn’t miss the mockery in their smiles or the pleasure of their eyes. She didn’t care either. They’re not the reason she was here, and she had long since learned how to tune them out.

But Bart did feel nervous. Not because of the idiots dragging her like a rag doll, although it bothered her they didn’t fear her anymore. She felt nervous because it was the first time she was going to see Tessa after she made her get hurt the last time they saw each other.

It was weird, how much she cared about her. Bart wasn’t expecting this kind of connection to happen so fast. From the moment they started bonding, Bart felt like liking her was inevitable. Almost as if it was meant to happen.

But despite how much she wanted to see her back, how much she wanted to be sure she was safe, she still wasn’t so sure of herself once the steel doors open. They threw her in without a second chance, where some doctors wrapped tightly the Velcro bracelets that would keep her steady. She didn’t know the routine, but they made her comply without saying a word. At first she couldn’t see her anywhere. The room wasn’t too big, but not too small either. Just enough for her and a few pieces of equipment. The walls were all covered with strange grey circles, lined up in rows from floor to ceiling. Except for one, that is made entirely of glass. On the other side, a room that seemed to reflect the one Bart was in showed nothing apart from the same equipment that she saw on her left. It was empty. There was no Project on sight.

Bart tried to get closer, see if she can break it and go after Tessa. She had to be somewhere, right? When she tried to walk towards the glass though, she felt the tug from the fabric in her wrists that didn’t let her give more than two steps forward.

The door of the opposite room opened, and Bart lifted her head just in time to see three figures coming in. The two at the sides were tall, very big, wearing the black jumpsuits that conformed the Blackwing uniform. The third one though was smaller, a lot less intimidating than the other two figures. Just as they step into the light to trap the third person as they did with Bart, she saw who it was.

“Tessa!” she yelled, letting the smile on her lips transform into a full beam.

Tessa looked up as well, directing a confused look that soon turns into recognition once she saw who was calling her.

“What are you doing there?” Bart asked. Ken had told her they were supposed to do the experiment together, and this was not what she had had on mind.

Tessa didn’t seem to hear her very well though, because her eyebrows pulled together and she tapped a finger to her ear.

“The room,” she mouthed exaggeratedly as she pointed at the walls around her. “Why are you here?”

The only response she received was a shrug.

They end up stabilizing her and leave her alone, as they did with Bart seconds before she came in. And Bart never felt too close and too far from something she wanted.

“Are you okay?” she mouthed, slightly whispering the words as if saying them out loud would make them more real.

It took a few attempts for Tess to understand her, but she ended up putting her thumbs up. She even smiled.

So, for Bart’s surprise, she wasn’t mad at her. In fact, she looked relieved to see Bart in front of her, and that made her feel like something heavy had been lifted from her shoulders.

She was about to ask her if she could free herself when a loud alarm blared through the speaking systems. Bart looked at the window on her right. Surprisingly enough, this time she could see the serious people behind it. But they weren’t scared, even less nervous. So the alarm wasn’t sounding in the entire building, only in these rooms. She saw Tess crouch so her hands could cover her ears, and Bart thought it’d be a good idea to imitate her. Wow, she was so smart…

Suddenly the alarm stopped, and only seconds after Bart felt like she could hear again, she got blind.

It appeared the circles in the walls weren’t there for decoration. They weren’t even stupid circles, to begin with. They were lamps, and they were turned on, and out of a sudden Bart couldn’t see.

“What are you doing?” she screamed into the light. Not even inside her eyelids was dark enough. She could feel it filter through them, burning her retinas with every second exposed.

“It’s the test number 48, Project Marzanna,” a female voice said on the speaker. “We’ve been commanded to establish a connection to the Universe.”

It was hot. Incredibly hot. It felt like the lamps were setting her in flames from all the heat it was throwing at her.

“I want to talk to Ken!” she yelled back at the window.

The voice in the speaker didn’t take long to reply. “Supervisor Adams isn’t available for a meeting yet. You’ll have to wait for the daily visit.”

The stupid daily visit… Blackwing’s system was a mess. These last days Bart hadn’t got her daily visits, so she couldn’t see him for so long.

“You’ve gotta call him!” she claimed, hoping that perhaps if they brought Ken he would see they were testing them, not experimenting with them.

They were not supposed to be testing her. They were not supposed to be testing Tess either. This was _not_ what was supposed to happen.

“Supervisor Adams isn’t available for a meeting yet,” the voice repeated. “You’ll have to wait for the daily visit.”

Bart tried to open her eyes. She lasted barely one second before closing them again. The light was too bright. How could she even see Tessa if she was with her eyes shut?

But she knew Tess was on the other side of the glass, and that was recomforting enough.

Something appeared. She didn't know when, but there was something else tickling inside her apart from the heat from the lamps. She couldn’t distinguish it when it first appeared. Bart was too focused on trying to shake off the sensation that her skin was going to lit up in flames. But then it happened again. And again. And again. And suddenly, she started feeling it all at once, like a shot of adrenaline running at high speed through her veins.

“The Universe,” she whispered.

The sweat had started to soak her face, and having her hair covering her eyes felt like having a blanket wrapped over your shoulders while being in the dessert, but she hid beneath it to open her eyes and look right at the brilliant floor.

She could still feel it, calling her, reaching for her, calling… for help?

“Something wrong Marzanna?” the voice in the speaker prompted at her lack of movement.

 _Everything_ , she’d wanted to answer. But instead the words that came out of her mouth were:

“It’s talking to me.”

It’d been low, incredibly low that she doubted they heard her. But the further questioning told her they did. They might have put those tiny machines that record your voice that Ken once told her about all over the room.

“It’s… it’s asking me to help it,” she explained.

“Help it? For what?”

But she was too tired to talk. She felt so hot. If only they could turn off those goddamn lights…

Something hit her. It fell from above, and it felt like nothing Bart had ever felt before. It hurt. Not like the electrocution from Priest, but it sure hurt, and it kept falling, and falling, and falling…

Bart felt like she couldn’t breathe. There was something filling her lungs that wasn’t air, and she was pretty sure that wasn't how lungs were supposed to work. Only after it was gone again she realised it was water. A quick glance up told her it came from the ceiling, from the very big, very dark circle on the ceiling.

“We need you to answer to the Universe, Marzanna,” the woman from the speaker said.

“That’s… not how it works,” she tried, but she knew they wouldn’t listen.

“Do you want us to throw the water again?” they warned her. “perhaps you’re not listening too clearly."

Bart felt it again. The calling. She didn’t know how to say anything back to them. No matter how hard she tried to think of an answer, the Universe kept yelling and yelling and yelling.

It was unbearable. Now besides of the heat and the sudden lack of air that the Blackwing doctors sometimes threw upon her she had to deal with the headache that was having the Universe trying to tell you where to go, what to do, who to kill.

Bart wanted to faint. Maybe, if she fainted, they would all leave her alone. Blackwing and their stupid heaters, Ken and his stupid tests, the Universe and its stupid calls for help.

It didn’t help at all to think Tessa was probably going through the same...

_She felt nothing._

_Bart didn’t know what was happening. One moment she was suffocating under the lamps, begging them to finish everything and send her to her room to cry alone in her bed, and now she was here. The place was weird. There didn’t seem to be any ground under her, but there was! She made sure of it by jumping a few times and realising she didn’t fall into the void. Above her head, the lights lit up the entire space, blues of all tones mixing, clashing, swirling over each other._

_She felt again._

_This time they weren’t her emotions. She definitely didn’t feel like she was being torn in half, stretching in some places, coming together in others. She didn’t feel like there was something apart from her, something she needed desperately like an arm or a leg, and that someone was keeping it away from her. She certainly didn’t feel like screaming, and yelling, and crying out loud so anyone who can hear her could please_ help _her._

_No, they weren’t her emotions. They were the Universe’s._

“ _What can I do?” she asked to the lights. Perhaps they knew something that could be useful for her._

_She felt the energy run through her being, giving an answer that she suddenly knew, even though it was never spoken to her._

“ _But how can I help you if I don’t know where you’re hurting.”_

_A light flickered on the top corner, and a different wave crossed her ethereal body._

“ _Blackwing?” Bart scrunched her face. It couldn’t be there the source of its problem, could it?_

_She felt something lighter wash over her._

“ _Right… so that’s it?”_

_They didn’t seem happy with her question._

“ _Well, it’s not so hard, I’ve done that before.”_

_It was funny the way the Universe talked with her. She wasn’t even sure it could count as talking. It wasn’t through thoughts, or words, or symbols. It was through ideas. Concepts. Something that took form in her mind and that she alone could put words to. It felt like a hunch, but focused on all her being. It simply was._

_Bart would be content with simply being._

_Something heavy fell on her._

“ _You don’t know what I’ve gone through,” she defends herself. It’s weird, having to defend your own thoughts. It’s like if the Universe could read her mind. Although she supposed it could. It was the Universe, after all.”It would be good not feeling anything.”_

_The thought of Tessa came alone to her mind._

“ _Alright, alright. I’ll do it. But with one condition,” she raised a finger at the amount of nothing above her. “No more hurt.”_

_The image of Ken now appeared behind her eyelids._

_Bart felt her finger fall down until her whole arm was pinned to her side. She looked down at her feet, who seemed to be floating in the darkness but felt something solid underneath. She wished she had something solid to hold to in real life, so she wouldn’t have to take decisions like this._

“ _I… I can’t do that,” Bart shook her head, feeling upset for disappointing the Universe. “I will help you, just… not with that.”_

_Bart felt herself fall._

She fell. Hard onto the floor, splayed on her back. The lights were off, the water was nowhere to be seen. The doctors were taking her wrists from the bracelets, ready for the guards to send her to her cell. Bart let herself be carried by them to the hallways.

Coming out of the investigation rooms she saw the guards transporting Tessa. She was still wet, her curls flat on her face. Bart disentangled herself from the guard’s grip and went to hug her tight. Tessa wrapped her arms around her just as fast, and that made her smile into her wet hair.

“Bart, what are you-?”

“Shh,” she whispered, making her lower her tone as well. “I spoke to the Universe.”

She could practically feel her eyes widening.

“What-?”

“I need you to listen,” she whispered in a rush. It wouldn’t be long until the guards made them break apart. “It told me to do something and I’m gonna need your help.”

“What’s it?” Tess whispered back.

“We need to make a breakout.”

Bart felt someone gripping her tightly and pulling from her. The guards getting hold of Tessa pulled from her too, walking her towards her aisle of the rooms. Bart gave her a last look to see if she got to hear her. It was important that she helped her, or Bart would never do it alone. She couldn’t do it alone…

Tessa smiled at her over the end of the hallway, looking over her shoulder before she got to yell, “Speak to Michael! He’ll know what to do!”

She couldn’t ask her what Michael she was talking about, because the guards made her turn around the corner and she disappeared from her sight. But the glint in her eyes was evidence enough that she was on board with this.

Bart smirked to herself. As the guards threw her to her room, Bart couldn’t help but laugh.

They would be sorry for all they’ve done. Blackwing was going to burn. And this time, there’d be no one left to rebuild.

* * *

It was easy to remember how cold it was outside when all you had to do to protect yourself was a leather jacket and a simple short-sleeved t-shirt.

Dirk knew for sure that they were quite a sight, dressed up like that. Not only they looked weird walking in a straight line all next to each other like some sort of cool protagonists of a teenage street-club movie, but it was a bit obvious their clothes didn’t match up with their personalities.

Hobbs seemed a bit uncomfortable. He tried to cover himself with his bare arms that the leather gilet and the Nirvana t-shirt didn't cover. The black jeans seemed to be imprisoning his legs, making him walk stiffly and totally not natural at all.

“I have a few complaints about the choice in wardrobe.” The look he sends to Tina as his hand goes up to scratch the skin under the red bandanna was not one Dirk would like to receive.

The deputy waved a hand at him, dismissing his words. She didn’t move as weird as the sheriff. If not, she even looked confident about her look. Tina had a calm expression, with some undertones of excitement, as she walked with those very short shorts that shouldn't be as comfortable in this weather as she made them seem. Dirk supposed the fishnet stockings must have something to do with it, but he highly doubted it.

“You’ll get used to it,” she shrugged while grabbing the lapels of her red jacket.

“What, feeling like you’re naked while being surrounded by loads of snow?” Donna retorted as she did her best to hug herself.

Yeah, she wasn’t taking it too well either. But then again, she didn’t even have a jacket to cover herself with, and her Vans tank top didn’t help a lot to keep the cold away either. She kept walking forward with her eyes glued to her shoes. They weren’t as cool as Farah’s boots, but at least they looked comfortable enough to walk with.

“It isn’t snowing today” Tina mumbled, fighting like a little child to protect her choices in fashion. And although Dirk still considered them to be questionable, he wasn’t so keen to say that out loud.

“The reports say it might snow later, _Tee_.”

Tina rolled her eyes at Farah’s comment. She didn’t even bother to answer to her before she walked faster to get ahead of them.

Farah looked… she looked amazing, if Dirk had to be honest. The white shorts contrast perfectly with the dark tones of her skin, and the red flannel tank top suited her as if it had been made for her. Even if that wasn’t her style at all, it still looked like Farah, with her combat boots making her look ready to kick some asses and tear down some doors to come and save the day.

Dirk had really gorgeous friends.

But she didn’t look happy. Farah just followed Tina’s moves with a bit of sadness and resignation in her eyes, taking her gloved hands to hug her arms and give her some comfort in that not-so-comfortable situation.

Dirk noticed that Todd was also looking at her. When he saw him looking back, he pressed his lips together and shrugged helplessly at him. Dirk just gave him a quick nod and forced himself to keep looking forward.

Todd really looked cool. Dirk hadn't expected from him. Amanda showed him once pictures of their youth, specially from the time when Todd, in her words, ‘wanted to look like the guys from those emo magazines’. Dirk had seen him with his spiky hair, the eyeliner and the clothes with too many chains and no colour besides black, grey and the occasional white. It’d been hilarious at the time, and that was what he had in mind when Tina and Todd said they were going to buy their disguises. What he hadn’t expected was to see his best friend being so good looking.

Dirk didn’t know what happened to him back in the motel, but when he asked Todd for help and he showed up like _that_ … he was having an experience. He couldn’t take his eyes away for much time before they went back to the way his clothes dressed him so marvelously. Dirk felt even worse with his selected clothes once Todd entered his room. And he had made that _stupid_ , very stupid joke. He didn’t even know why he did it! It clearly made Todd feel embarrassed at Dirk’s own imbecility, he was blushing so hard when he said he had to leave. Dirk knew he had to make it up, so he tried to compliment him, because people like to hear that stuff, right? They like to hear good things about themselves. But he proved himself wrong once he saw his best friend blush harder at his poor choice of words.

Stupid Dirk, always ruining his friend’s help and making them feel uncomfortable.

He had a real panic moment with Mona right after that, and she told him to calm down, that it’ll be alright. For the moment he chose to believe her. He was happy to have her with him tonight. He made sure of transmitting that thought by gently stroking the leather of his sleeves.

They arrived at The Last Moon and Dirk didn’t know what to expect from it. The sign of the club was made of violet and blue neon tubes, where you could read the name of the place next to the neon image of the moon and a wolf howling to it.

“Hmm, wolves.” Tine eyed the sign with an amused smirk. “Pretty punk.”

There weren’t many people on the door. The security man made them pass with some boxes that had the shape of some instruments. Perhaps they were going to play something tonight. Dirk only hoped it wasn’t as loud as the tunes the Rowdies liked to blast on their van’s speaker every time they visited.

Dirk planted himself in front of the entrance ready to step inside right behind the last guys when a big and hairy hand took him by the shoulder and pushed him away from the orange doors.

“Excuse me? May I ask the reason behind your rudeness?” Dirk rushed to flatten the peak in his shoulder that the man left with his grabbing. He knew very well how bad Mona hated being treated like that.

The security man looked impassive at his questioning. He simply crossed his arms tightly over his chest and flatly stared at them with bored eyes.

“You can’t pass.”

“Why not?” Farah urged.

The guy looked up and down at their outfits, and Dirk was begging to the Universe he didn’t think they were as ridiculous as he felt.

“Because, _sweetheart_ ,” Yes, he totally wasn’t imagining the death glare in Farah’s eyes, “today is band night.”

“So?” She leaned over as she spoke, putting all the venom she could in her voice. Her stare was more intimidating than the security guard’s.

“ _So_ ,” he repeated, “unless you got a special pass or anyone inside, I can’t let you in without a band.”

Oh. that was rather unexpected.

Dirk looked over at Donna, the one who actually lived here and was supposed to take them out of this situation. She should know something, right? But instead of offering a solution she looked at Dirk with wide eyes, asking him for the next step to do. Letting a panicked expression take over his face, he shook his head to inform her he was even more lost in this.

Todd looked over at them, resting his hand on his hips. When his eyes wondered to Dirk, his gaze settled down in his torso, and it _happened_. His eyebrows rose up for a fraction, eyes widening a little before he furrowed his brow, turning around at the bigger man who diverted his attention from them to look at the plastic board in his hands.

Farah gave him a questioning look and Dirk answered with a proud grin.

_Todd had an idea._

“Hey, you, big guy!”

_And it was a terrible idea._

The man lifted his eyes from the paper he was reading to look at the short frame of his best friend with disdain. Todd looked up at him with his hands still on his hips, frown changing into a scowl and eyes boring holes into the man’s skull. Dirk had to admit, he knew that Todd was brave, but this was rather stupid.

“Do you _really_ have no idea about who we are?” he asked pointing at all of them while changing his weight from one foot to another. His tone was beyond indignation, and it made the man’s eyebrows raise to his hairline.

“I haven’t been informed of the presence of a group of-”

“Mind your mouth asshole, or you’ll have problems with your bosses.”

Dirk had to keep a neutral expression, but Todd was making it really hard not to make him want to step in and drive him away from the potential trouble he was getting himself and the rest of them in with that guy. The strong and brawny guy who could easily make them leave with more than one broken limb.

“Who are you again?” the man asked, but his eyes looked at Todd like he just discovered he might have fucked something up.

“We’re The Mexican Funeral, man,” Todd informed him, letting a knowing smirk tug from the corners of his lips. Dirk felt like the air stopped in his lungs. “We've traveled a lot just to make sure we could play in your stupid club. Your people paid us a lot of money just to be here, so you better let us in if you don’t want us to have some words with your manager. And believe me, they will be _cross_ if we do.”

The man checked once again in the board, surely looking for their name in the list of bands allowed. Dirk shared a look with Farah of uncertainty. Todd simply folded his arms over his chest and looked expectant at the security guard. If he didn’t know the truth, Dirk could easily be tricked by his attitude.

“Right. I found you on the list.” The man lifted the board sending them a nervous smile, although Dirk doubted he was being honest. “The American Funeral.”

“Mexican Funeral,” Todd corrected with a flat stare.

“Sure,” he ducked his head and moved away, letting them get access to the doors.

Once they were in, the laughter was inevitable. Todd immediately swapped his annoying attitude to settle for a sheepish smile that could barely be visible with his head ducked down. Dirk would be lying if he said that wasn’t totally adorable.

“What the _Hell_ was that?” Donna asked as they passed the threshold. There were a few people gathered in there, smoking or flirting where the lights didn’t blind them.

“I don’t know,” Todd laughed. “He said it was band night so I figured if we were a band they’d let us get in.”

“And how did you know that would’ve worked?”

Todd smirked at Dirk with an arched eyebrow, “How do you think my band got gigs at first?”

“But what if it _didn’t_ work?” Farah questioned with an amused tone.

“Well,” Todd shrugged with a shy smile, “I can’t say that didn’t happen before.”

Dirk scoffed, his mouth hanging open as Tina threw her arm over Todd’s shoulders and shook him in his place.

“Hell yeah, man! Toddy-B is back to business!” She released him from her grip and used her hand to push him and lead their way. “Now let’s get in and find a few children aliens, buddy.”

They passed to the inside of the club, and the atmosphere changed completely.

It was crowded. No like that time in the Bersberg festival where the mass of teenagers engulfed him at the very step, but he still couldn’t move without being in contact with another human body. They walked in line, one behind the other, and Dirk tried his best to keep up with his friends’ excited pace. It was a little overwhelming after all, having all those people with all these obscure clothes, incredible haircuts and tons of colours in their hair and skin. They seemed to be having fun, swaying with the rhythm of the heavy music sounding through the speakers, and Dirk wished he could feel just like them. Instead, he felt suffocated.

He tried to grab hold of his sleeve, having Mona as his anchor to himself while trying not to lose sight of Farah in front of him. She looked completely fine in her surroundings, so he supposed that if she could do it, he would too.

Suddenly they stopped. Donna got in the centre of the circle to speak to them, and Dirk had to strain his ear to get what she said.

“Okay, so let’s stick to the plan here. I’m gonna need some time to find the back door of this place. Until then, we’ll have to mix up with these people.”

“Try not to get into any fight or be suspicious enough that they decide to kick us out. They have to believe we want to be here. I’m talking to you, Dirk,” Farah pointed at him.

“Hey!”

“If anyone asks, we’re The Mexican Funeral,” she continued. “We play punk music, we came a long way down to play here and have some fun and all the usual. Alright?”

“Pretty clear, chief,” Hobbs nodded taking a fist to his chest. “And now what?”

“I don’t know, dance?” Farah shrugged, and her eyes flew immediately to Tina. The hope in them was too obvious, so visible in the surface it was almost painful to him see how Tina rejected her.

“Great idea Farah,” the deputy said turning to her best friend. “Hobbs?”

Without waiting for his answer she took him by the hands and dragged him to the crowd. Donna’s eyes widened at the sight of them disappearing between all those people and all in a sudden she was grabbing Farah from the wrist and walking away. Farah looked at her with a confused frown.

“What are you doing?” she asked her, but letting herself be pulled nonetheless. They had to pretend after all.

“I don’t know, I panicked.” Dirk could hear Donna’s muttered words before the rest of the people blocked his sight from them.

Right. So, now he was supposed to be standing there and act like a normal person. A normal person who frequented those places. A normal person who dressed in loads of leather and came here to bob his head at heavy tunes while consuming equally heavy drinks.

Oh God, he was so screwed.

Dirk felt a tug from his jacket, and that definitely hadn’t been him.

“Are you alright?” Todd let go of his arm but didn’t go far. He wouldn’t be able to hear him if he did anyway.

“Depends on what you define as alright, I suppose,” he responded, eyeing the people that attempt to dance at the music sounding. “How do you even dance to this kind of music?”

He only saw a lot of people shifting their weight from one foot to the other, nodding along to the melody or, in the most extreme cases, jumping in their place. Seriously, Farah’s idea to mix in was definitely absurd.

Todd chuckled next to him, which brought Dirk back to where he was.

“Yeah, I guessed this wouldn’t be the kind of place you’d like.” He said it with fondness, and then proceeded to explain while cautiously pointing at people as he spoke, “Technically, it’s not dancing. We call it that way because it’s better than saying ‘move along to the music so you can look cool’.”

“We?” he questioned with the lift of an eyebrow.

Todd rolled his eyes, “I suppose the emo part never truly dies. What I mean is, nobody here knows what they’re doing, so don’t feel bad about feeling out of place.”

Dirk gave a look around. Yes, he had to admit everyone just seemed to be doing whatever, moving freely without minding what others could be thinking about them.

He sighed, “If only I felt nearly as comfortable as them this would be tons easier.”

Todd gave him a quick look before sighing. “Wait here.”

“What? No way, you’re not leaving me here with all these people. They might make me dance!”

He said it so desperately that it made Todd laugh as he shook his head.

“Well just come with me then.” He took him by the arm and pulled lightly as he started to walk away. “Just try not to get lost!”

They went through the people who kindly enough moved away to let them pass. Dirk would never have guessed from their intimidatory appearances that they could be so nice with them. Although in all honesty, it probably had a lot to do with Todd.

He walked like someone who knew exactly where they’re going, which was weird considering this was their first time in the club. Todd led their way while smiling at people, greeting them as if he knew them from another place, even laughing along with them. He’d gone so far as to high-five with a guy that almost knocked his drinks on them.

Dirk almost lost him with the push and pull of the crowd, making so that Todd’s hand went from his elbow to his writs. To get a better grip of him, Dirk supposed. Although that thought didn’t keep his heart from hammering against his ribcage. The same sensation he felt that night they held hands in his room overwhelmed him, and Dirk had to put everything in him to avoid linking their fingers again.

They arrived at the bar after a long time of walking around. Todd found them a place where there weren’t many people, only a few couples making out, minding their own business. Dirk saw him talk to the bartender before they could finally seat down.

“This is what you had in mind to make me more confident?” Dirk let the smirk slip past his lips. “Alcohol?”

“It always works, doesn’t it?” Todd smiled back, openly, making his eyes lit up with a calm that somehow transmitted to him. “Besides, I don’t think we have to be one hundred percent sober for this job.”

As the man brought them their glasses, Dirk decided that maybe only this time it wouldn’t matter to lower his senses.

“I suppose not.”

He brought the drink to his lips to take the first sip. It didn’t taste nearly as strong as Dirk had expected it to be. Todd looked at his surprised face over the rim of his beer glass.

“It’s an American Light,” he explained. “We don’t want you to get drunk this early, right?”

“I’ll try to forget the fact that you think I’m a light weight,” he said rolling his eyes and having another sip. “But thanks.” He took a moment to feel the aftertaste in his tongue. His eyebrows pulled together with recognition, “It tastes like orange.”

“Yeah, it does,” Todd said with his eyes looking at something in Dirk’s face. There was a softer tone in his look, something Dirk couldn’t quite figure out. He got a little scared about the fact that he liked it. “Feeling better?”

“Considerably so,” he smiled at him, and Todd returned the gesture. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“Do what?” he frowned, fingers stopping their drumming in the bar table.

“This,” Dirk said pointing at Todd. “I mean, you look very confident here. You talk to people and move without any doubt. You didn’t even know where the bar was and yet you walked like if you owned the place!”

Todd laughed, ducking his head to look at his glass, “Totally not. I had no idea where I was going...”

Dirk scoffed, “Well obviously you didn’t need to. You move around here just like you did outside with the security guard.”

Todd looked at him with curious eyes, his lips slightly turned upwards as he looked back at Dirk.

“Yeah?” he arched an eyebrow, fingers playing with the edge of his glass. “And how would that be?”

“I don’t know,” Dirk shrugged with one shoulder, turning slightly in his stool to face Todd entirely, “Sure of yourself? Certain of what you’re doing? I’d say bravely too, but that’s just how you are.”

Todd now had both eyebrows raise, “You think I’m brave?”

His lips now settled into the smirk that Dirk had come to relate to him. But somehow, this time the sight of it made his throat feel tight, making it harder for his next words to come.

“Well, yes.” He had to thank to whoever listened for making his voice sound normal. “You have this desire to get into trouble without thinking of the consequences. I used to be uncertain about it being bravery or stupidity, but given that only one of us can afford to be the thoughtless idiot I thought bravery was the correct choice.”

Todd chuckled and bit his lip, movement that didn’t go unnoticed by Dirk.

“I wouldn’t call myself brave,” he said looking down at his lap. “I think idiocy suits me best. Or perhaps I just really want to die, have you considered that before?”

Dirk dismissed his thought with a shake of his head.

“Setting your suicidal desires aside, you’ve always done these incredible things were you put yourself in the line of danger without a second thought. I mean, you almost electrocuted yourself when that arrow hit me on the Patrick Springs case. Or the time where you slid down to the House inside the House in Bersberg and fought against that Purple People Eater monster. I don’t say it’s my favourite thing in the world, to be honest, because I prefer my friends in one piece at all times,” Todd laughed, and the sound made Dirk’s lips stretch into a smile, “but that’s only another thing that forms who you are.”

“Yeah, but that’s only when a certain _someone_ takes the stupid decisions that make us be in danger.”

“Now I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dirk denied returning his attention to the glass in his left hand.

“Oh, should I be more clear?” Todd lowered his head to catch Dirk’s glance, leaning on the bar to be right under his eyes. “I’m talking about the thoughtless idiot of the two of us.”

Dirk let his eyes look back at Todd’s. The low lights of the club made it hard to focus on any certain features of his face, but thanks to the white neon signs from the bar he could appreciate the dark blue of his gaze.

“So you’re only brave when it is about me?”

 _Shit_. He shouldn’t have said that. He was making it weird. Heavens, what was Todd going to think about that? And where did the comment come from? Why did he even say it?

Ok, he _did_ know why he said it. Somewhere deep inside him, he wanted to hear him confirm it. He had this need of being the one who impulsed Todd to take his most stupid yet bravest decisions, the ones that made him the hero of the day. Todd had saved Dirk’s ass countless times not to figure that bit out. And to be completely honest, he had noticed some sort of pattern some time ago. But never before the idea of it being true mattered so much as it did now.

Todd's lips slowly curled up in a soft smile as he looked up at him. When he spoke his voice was low, but Dirk was able to catch every single one of his words,

“It seems like, there’s something about you that makes me want to be brave.”

Dirk felt all his face heat up. Any reply he could say to respond to that vanished from his brain, leaving him at a loss of words that only helped to make him gape at Todd.

The way he was looking at him was weird, but a kind of weird that Dirk decided he liked. It was soft, just as much as his smile, but there was a tenderness in it that made his mouth dry completely. And as Dirk was a curious person, he found a little interesting the way he felt himself reciprocate the smile as well. Or the way he felt Todd’s hand brushing his, not taking it at all, merely a butterfly touch that sent shivers down his spine. Or the way Dirk felt the space between them get smaller with every second.

But he was also a coward, so Dirk could hear his heart hammering as he brought his glass up to his lips, looking away from Todd’s suddenly very close face. As he looked to the dance floor he thought having seen Farah somewhere in the crowd. His voice sounded quite strangled when he spoke again.

“Shouldn’t we be trying to mix in with the people?” He cleared his throat, daring another glance at Todd. “I suppose it must be strange being so much time in the bar.”

And there had to be something wrong, because Todd was back in his stool, looking down at his glass and with a shame in his face that was almost as obvious as the blush in his cheeks.

“Yeah, I suppose,” he said, but his eyes didn’t leave once the fixed point of his half-empty beer. “Any suggestions?”

Yes, something was very wrong indeed. Dirk felt incredibly bad for letting the last moment die so abruptly, but his nerves really had the worst timing.

And it fuelled him with a new energy realising that he actually _did_ want to go back to it. Despite knowing how bad they could end if it continued, Dirk knew he couldn’t keep hiding behind the _shoulds_ and _shouldn’ts_ of their friendship when his feelings were clearly there.

Todd looked pretty abashed in his seat, feeling almost as bad as Dirk that they stopped before it could get interesting. Which meant he was willing to go further if Dirk pressed again.

This would ruin their relationship on many levels, and he knew that, but Dirk was feeling pretty selfish tonight.

“We could dance?”

It was risky, and he knew that. But suddenly Todd was smiling again and Dirk couldn’t find it in him to care.

“Do you think you’re ready for that?” Todd teased, but he was already standing up.

“Not really, but you’ve been to these places before so...”

Dirk was on board with trusting his feeling, and he was sure that right now, that’s exactly what he wanted. Now it was up to him deciding if they gave a step forward or stayed right where they were.

He left the comment there, the offer clear but silent. For the way Todd grabbed his hand without a second notice he took it as accepted.

He drove him to where most of the people gathered, making themselves some space to move freely, but it was still small. Dirk could barely move without being in contact with some part of his friend's body, although this time he didn’t find it scary. It was a thrilling sensation the one that washed over him when Todd’s hands found his sides.

He said something, but it was impossible for him to listen over the loud music. He made a face to express that and Todd rolled his eyes before leaning closer.

Dirk felt his lips brushing against his ear when he whispered, “Is this okay for you?”

His voice wasn’t too loud, which made the hairs at the base of his nape stand out. Did he find it okay? He didn’t know what he was talking about, to begin with. Perhaps he referred to the rock music that now turned slower in the speakers. Or maybe he meant the way his hands now rested comfortably on his waist, right under the jacket and where the Mexican Funeral t-shirt let him feel every movement of his fingers. Perhaps he was talking about the way he could still feel his breath in the sensitive part of his skin, shutting down the entirety of his nervous system.

It was in moments like this when Dirk became aware of the slight height difference between them because he had to bend down a little to whisper in Todd’s ear.

“I don’t know. What about you?”

Dirk took the wise decision of letting his wandering arms settle on Todd’s shoulders. His fingers picked idly at the collar of his jacket and it felt good to see Todd didn't pull back.

“What about me?” he asked back.

The people around them had all found their couples and were now swaying to the melody that sounded in the air that all of a sudden didn’t feel that cold anymore.

“Do you feel anything?”

The laugh that sounded in his ear made him close his eyes for a second. “You can’t ask me that.”

“Why not?” Dirk pressed.

There was no verbal answer for him. Instead of replying, Todd turned ever so slightly until the tip of his nose was touching Dirk’s jaw. His breath hitched in his throat, and he let his hands go up through Todd’s neck until his fingers touched the first strands of hair. He felt his nose continuing a path up to his cheekbones and suddenly there was the ghost of a pair of lips there too. Dirk tried to calm down the erratic rhythm of his heart as he found himself staring right into his best friend’s eyes, the tip of their noses touching, his hands cupping his face, their breaths already mixing.

Now was the chance, and he knew it. Out of a sudden, there was no fear making him run away. He didn’t _want_ to run away. Quite the opposite, in fact.

He didn’t get to think in how bad they were messing their relationship with what they were doing, and he definitely didn’t listen to the voice that said he’ll probably regret this later. Dirk didn’t care, because Todd was looking at him and the darkness he saw in those eyes looked very inviting.

There was something buzzing inside him, a hunch that called for him, but Dirk decided that he would take care of that later. Now, he pressed his forehead against Todd’s, feeling his eyes flutter shut and his heart being right where it should be.

It was at that moment that someone decided to call his name.

“Dirk!”

Both of them turned at the source of the voice. Donna was waving at them from a near place in the crowd, making them motions to go with them.

“I found the backdoor!” she said. Hobbs next to her seemed to be more receptive of the situation as he took the good decision of turning around.

Right. The case. He seemed to be forgetting about that a lot recently.

Todd was the first to disentangle himself from their embrace and turn to walk towards their friends. Dirk suddenly felt again the chill air coming from the entrance. He saw Todd’s back disappear among other people and he had the sudden fear that everything went down.

And it shocked him, as he walked away too, how disappointed he felt of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've wanted to write this chapter for a loooong time. It actually is one of the parts from the original plan of the story that remained in it after the many changes. I hope you liked it reading it as much as I liked writing it!
> 
> Next chapter brings many other surprises and probably serious conversations that need to be talked, so prepare yourself for that. Anyway, see you next time! I hope you have a good day <3


	11. XI. Hobbit

Of all the stories she’d heard, Donna already had an idea of how the orphanage would look. The reality was that once inside, it was much worse than she imagined.

Getting in hadn’t been hard. They only had to put the clock in the slot of its same size and move the little knob on top of it. It was only a matter of seconds until the door opened for them. Grabbing the lanterns that Hobbs had insisted on taking with them, they divided into two groups; Donna and him on one side and two equally uncomfortable Dirk and Todd on the other. As they got into the hallways, opening and investigating each room they came across, they discovered the Wayaards had security everywhere. Every now and then they heard little steps approaching, and as soon as they hid, they saw the shadows of small soldiers that made her feel a lot more threatened than she ever thought a 5-year-old would make her feel. It was like being a child again and playing hide and seek, and Donna was silently begging not to be found.

They made it through several doors, having found nothing that interesting to report in any of them. Only simple rooms full of cribs and a hollow sensation of abandonment. It sent shivers down her spine at every step. The whole experience felt surreal, like being a part of those famous apocalyptic video-games and hoping there wasn’t any zombie hiding in the shadowy corners.

Now, Hobbs was trying to open one of the offices that were locked. Donna was looking over the hallways to announce any possible guard. She felt her heart beating hard on her chest, threatening to jump out of it in a matter of seconds. How she was still managing to control her nerves without giving in to them, she wasn’t sure. Perhaps it had something to do with Hobbs presence with her. Anyway, she needed to say something to distract her from this entire situation. She said the first thing that appeared in her mind.

“So… Dirk and Todd.”

She tried to be quiet so they couldn’t be intercepted, but no steps or light breathing could be heard in the corners. Hobbs snorted, and he tried not to smile too wide so the lantern in his mouth could keep still.

“I don’t think that was a good moment to interrupt them, Donnie.” The door gave in at the small knife Hobbs put in the lock. “They seemed to be in the middle of a _moment_.”

“Next time we should wait until they kissed or something.”

Hobbs chuckled as they closed the door behind them.

The room must’ve belonged to one of the figures of the highest rank before the establishment was closed down. The walls were covered in paintings that in other times could’ve been admired by many. Now, they had some signs written with a red substance that Donna preferred to stay away from for the moment. Although the items in the room told her the owner had taken care of them with huge respect, now everything was in incredible chaos; with couches that looked too comfortable thrown on the floor, a wide variety of books and printed papers that seemed important scattered everywhere and the pieces of glasses that were surely taken from the important cabinet against the opposite wall.

In the middle of the room, there was a big desk covered in papers. It reminded her of her sister’s notes. Donna felt immediately drawn to those who looked more organized and handwritten.

“These might be from the Wayaards.” It surprised her to see she could understand every word on them. “They’re in English.”

“Tikao said that as long as they were on Earth they and the Slendren would adapt to our customs.” Hobbs’ voice sounded far away as he inspected the disaster the aliens left on the room. “Something about respecting culture and such.”

“So they kidnap our people and break into our properties but they speak our language. How thoughtful.”

The documents were a series of letters that had been exchanged between the current owner of the office and their superior. Donna stopped particularly in one of the lines, where the name of Nariaan and Pollock had been highlighted.

“They mention Ari here,” she whispered. She lifted the letter with the intention to keep reading it, but her eyes didn’t move from that name with which the alien race identified her sister.

The discovering of her identity was a hard blow for Donna. Before Arianna appeared in their lives, things were very strange. With her ill father and a mother in a sentimental state that could be only described as deplorable, Donna wasn’t anything but the sentimental guard of the house. She felt responsible for sending away every tear and taking care of every smile that could be seen or heard in the Denver household. She was always alert, making everything in her reach to make the shadows lurking in the corners of their home stay as away as possible from her parents. Only years later she realised how exhaustive and toxic that behaviour was for her.

And when Arianna came, it’d been like a salvation for her.

Ari was light. A light that shone with hope, bringing with her smiles and kind looks to every person she knew. Of course Claire would love her instantly, and Shawn wasn’t as hard to capture at that time. Every time he’d looked at her, there had been a vitality in his eyes that Donna hadn’t seen in years.

And to her, Ari had been a friend, a partner in crime. She was young when they found her in that route, no more than seventeen. As soon as she recovered, Donna noticed she was also fierce, without reaching the intimidating, but making clear that every step of hers was loaded with confidence. Being with her made Donna feel comfortable, making sure she knew that around her she didn’t need to be the responsible adult she trained herself to be. Ari represented a sense of freedom in Donna’s life, and she’ll always be grateful to her for that.

Losing her hadn’t been easy. Discovering everything she knew about her had been a lie, even less.

Donna jumped in her place when she felt Hobbs’ hand falling on her shoulder.

“Donna? Are you alright?”

She lowered the letter for a moment, taking her eyes from the black lines written in it.

“This is too weird,” she shook her head and took a seat in the chair next to the desk. “My sister is an alien. Not only that, she’s the princess of aliens. But only of a fraction of them, because the rest is looking for her to, I don’t know, kill her? Feed her to the wolves or any other kind of carnivorous animal that there is on Venus?” She sighed, letting her shoulders fall in an act of resigning. “Do you realize how absurd all those sentences sound together?”

Hobbs crossed his arms over his chest a rest his weight on the paper-free surface of the desk. “Well, in my experience working with Dirk, ‘absurd’ is simply a requisite of his business. I mean, last time we saw each other a mage turned me into a brainless zombie.”

“That sounds nothing like fun.”

“It wasn’t. But after that, Farah made the mage explode in pieces. And Todd and his sister created a portal from another dimension. And Dirk brought an old man from a government facility that turned into a child to save said dimension. You see what I’m trying to say?”

“That you need to find new friends?”

“That things always solve themselves at the end. I mean, that’s why the Universe brought Dirk here, right? To solve everything.”

Donna fixed her eyes in the many pieces of furniture and glass filling up the floor and the red substance covering the walls. “Or the Universe could be wrong,” she said, picking up again the letter she had abandoned.

“Donna, in my experience, the Universe is never wrong.”

She didn’t take the sight of the paper, but she could notice how the sheriff stood up to keep investigating the room. Without knowing how to answer to that, Donna settled on continuing her reading.

Past the painful alias—no, the painful but real name of her sister—the text got a little more interesting. The letter came from the leader of the Wayaards and it was directed to the head of their army here on Earth, giving information about the search that would be done on Wyoming.

It said it was very important to investigate any possible strange event that has occurred in the cities close to the Slendren fort that Tikao had mentioned in their story. It asked for extreme attention to the possible anomalies notified by earthlings in those zones, especially the most extravagant. It seemed that would help them not only find princess Nariaan, but also there was a chance it would take them to prince Pollock.

The next thing she read left her frowning at the paper. According to the letter, both Nariaan and Pollock had what they described as “curses”. It said Pollock was capable of creating hallucinations that seemed completely real. Visions that came out of nowhere and that could risk the life of any man. Without no one teaching him to control them properly, it could be dangerous to find now, so it was advised to always move in armed groups.

In the other side of the paper, the presumed King now said that Nariaan wouldn’t be easy to find either. Her curse made it impossible to track her to a single point. It said—

“Donna?”

Her eyes were torn from the text for the edge on Hobbs’ voice. He was staring with a pretty disturbing expression at the open doors of the cabinet.

“Could you please come and tell me this isn’t what I think it is?”

Donna left the letter on the desk to check what the official was saying, but she wasn’t prepared for what she saw.

There were bottles. Or well, they seemed like bottles, but with a design that she wouldn’t recognise as such if she saw them in the town’s mini market. And they were a lot. They filled up the space inside the cabinet in a way that made her doubt how the door was capable of staying closed.

And they were full of a dark red liquid, that looked an awful lot like...

“Do you think it’s blood?” Hobbs whispered.

“I don’t know...”

She reached out a hand and took one of the bottles.

“What are you doing?” he asked her, with a concern in his voice that rose the exasperated.

“Detective work,” she answered with a shrug. “We’re detectives, right? Aren’t we supposed to look for evidence?”

“But we’re holistic detectives!” he retorted. “We don’t do evidence!”

Ignoring his complaint, Donna poured out a drop of the content on her hand. The substance had a weird consistency. Too dense to be blood, but liquid enough to slide a little down her skin. The smell was odd, but at the same time familiar? With Arianna in mind, and catching some of her impulsivity, Donna brought it to her mouth.

“Donna what the-?”

“Wait!” she stopped him before he continued. She tasted it a little more, only to check her assumption was correct and not an illusion of her mouth. But…

“What? What does it taste like?”

“It tastes…” she lowered the bottle to frown at it, “like ketchup?”

“What?”

A knock on the door made their heads turn towards the sound.

“Who’s in there?” a high-pitched voice called from the outside.

“Shit,” Hobbs said.

 

* * *

 

It was sharp. A razor-edged, needle-like blade. The sunlight reflected in its silver-coloured metal and its shine was just as brilliant as Friedkin’s smile.

There were thousands of weapons like that one. With his instructions, the Wendimoor citizens created a whole lot of useful artillery—nothing like those dumb giant scissors they had before.

Friedkin held it in front of him as he remembered heroes in movies did. The scared multitude surrounding them gave a step back, throwing careful glances at their precious Boy standing sternly behind him. He felt like the king of the world, the leader of an army, and he knew he was going to succeed.

All those feelings disappeared as Friedkin felt himself being yanked out of his body. The joy he’d felt in his chest evaporated as quickly as it came while his consciousness entered the realm of reality that he definitely didn’t miss up to now.

“Oh c’mon!” he yelled at the black mass of nothing. “I was right in the middle of something!”

The blue lights twirling above him did nothing but shine, as they have for ages before this. He remembered why he’d felt so relieved once he got out of that place. Yes, the fact that he couldn’t feel physical pain was pleasant—he wasn’t going to deny it—but the kind of hurt he was experiencing right now was worth forgetting about.

Although the Universe wasn’t talking to him, Friedkin could still hear it screaming. He couldn’t hear it as a physical sound though. Unlike any song, voice, or TV advertisement, the Universe’s pleas weren’t something you could _hear_ ; you _felt_ them. The utter pain in its voice reverberated all through his core, his whole soul shaken with the silent yet somehow loud cries for help.

“I’m so close, y’know?” he said out loud, looking upwards at the flickering lights. “I’m going to save you.”

A wave different from the last one ran over him. Friedkin felt himself frowning once he understood.

“What? Did you ask someone else for help? Why?”

The Universe sent something similar to disappointment towards him.

“What do you mean I’m not capable? I-I totally am! Better than anyone you could’ve asked to!”

The face of Marzanna appeared in his mind, almost like a memory, but not quite it.

“Are you mad?!” His voice was full of the same indignation that ran through him. “That was your best choice? She’s like, insane, dude!”

A stronger vibe shook him, hitting against something similar to anger that coiled in his metaphorical stomach.

“I don’t care what you tried to do! I was going to be the hero this time, not her!” He shook his head as he pulled from his hair. “No, I’m gonna show you,” he jabbed a finger towards the lights. “I’m gonna show you I can do this, and then everyone will know that _I_ was the good guy this time.”

And just like that, he pulled himself from that plane of existence, coming back to the exact same spot he was before that happened. He was on the floor now though, he might have fallen down when his consciousness fled from his body. Everyone looked at him with a mix of concern and fear.

“Hugo?” the Project Molloch asked him from behind. “Are you alright?”

He stood up and palmed the dust off of his clothes. Friedkin sent a murderous look toward the first man on charge he could see. “When’s the army going to be ready?”

“Uh, in a week, I think?” one of his officials stuttered, surprised about the question being aimed at him.

“Make it in half of a week, then.” Friedkin passed the sword he’d been holding to him as he walked by. The official looked wide-eyed at him, lines of confusion appearing in his forehead.

“May I ask why the rush, sir?”

“‘Cause the end of the Universe as we know it is coming. And I’ll be damn sure to keep it from happening before anyone else can.”

 

* * *

 

“Todd!”

“No.”

The door crooked behind them, and once it was closed, Todd started to focus his eyes in the two desks that stood in the middle of the room. They were pretty organised, aside from the fact they were full of files in form of piles and piles of paper. He tried to convince himself he was doing an intense perimeter investigation with this, but deep inside he knew it was the rejection of looking up at Dirk’s face what made him so insistent on his job.

“But you don’t know what I’m going to say,” the detective pressed on, whispering with a certain intensity that made Todd want to run away.

“Anyway, let’s just, not talk. Like, at all,” he specified while throwing the light of his torch over the many folders flooding the nearest desk. “We are supposed to be investigating, not having a chat.”

“But-”

“Don’t.”

“You’ll never know what I want to say if you keep-”

“I said don’t! Just, shut up!” He turned around to see Dirk flinching at his tone. Even he recognised it was a little too loud and a little too mean. “Sorry, I-I didn’t mean to snap like that.”

“No worries,” Dirk said, but he sounded rather cautious when he spoke again. “I only wanted to say something about the thing we did in-”

“Actually, I’d prefer we didn’t.”

Todd said this while facing the folders again, but he didn’t miss the way Dirk’s face twisted in one second. He looked surprised as he took interest in the pattern of the walls.

“May I ask why?”

Todd didn’t feel like doing that right now. Not only his instincts told him that anyone could come in through the door and alert the many infant adults protecting the orphanage, but he felt sick just by thinking about it.

He wasn’t ready to face whatever happened to him half an hour ago. Whatever he tried to do in The Last Moon, it had been stupid. Thoughtless. Idiotic. And many other self-deprecating adjectives that he didn’t have the energy nor the time to think about now. But he’d been in a _club_ , with loud music pumping through the speakers and surrounded of people that were just like him. He’d been in a place that felt familiar, and that took him years back to his University times where he could do whatever he wanted and have no consequences to bite him in the ass for it. So he got reckless, and went to push boundaries and step over lines that he knew shouldn’t be touched.

Now, he couldn’t even look at his best friend’s face without wishing for the ground to swallow him whole.

“I… whatever happened there, it didn’t happen,” he tried as an excuse. “Not really. I didn’t know what I was doing, and surely neither did you. Perhaps it’d be better if we simply acted as if it hadn’t happened at all.”

Dirk was silent. That made an alarm go off in his mind. Todd turned around and saw the detective looking right back at him, torch pointed at the floor, conflicted eyes piercing through his skull.

“Why?” he said with a weird voice.

He was frowning at Todd, mouth hanging a little open in confusion. For what he could see, Dirk was upset. And he couldn’t blame him for it. Todd went and tried to kiss him not only once, but twice.

God, he must think he was an idiot.

And of course he wanted to talk about it, because Dirk always wanted to solve problems. That’s what he did for a living, after all. But even if he would follow him to the end of the world in any case if he asked him for it, this wasn’t a problem Todd wanted to solve right now.

“I swear, back there I, I wasn’t myself.” Todd huffed as he looked up towards the ceiling. “Can we just, I don’t know, forget about it altogether?” He watched desperately as Dirk didn’t move an inch, and it made fear twist in his chest. “Please Dirk, you’re my best friend. I don’t want to lose you. Not to _that_.”

At first, Dirk didn’t react, which made him think he had royally fucked up. But after two seconds he finally smiled again and nodded at him.

“Sure Todd. I suppose you’re right.”

But it was a lie, and Todd knew it was a lie. His smile was more like an odd grin, a poor and artificial attempt of his normal gesture. He tried to keep Todd from looking at his face, but he still noticed the way his eyes didn’t reflect at all what his mouth was saying. He was obviously not okay with this outcome, and he didn’t want Todd to know that.

 _You should say something_ , the little voice in his head told him. _Ask him if he’s sure_.

“So we’re good?” he said instead, because he was an asshole.

“Yes,” Dirk nodded tightly again, looking back at the oak library next to him. “Quite.”

Todd himself went back to his own investigation, but he was incapable of focusing on anything that wasn’t the hurricane destroying his mind. Dirk had fully turned his back on him now, ignoring him completely. Todd wasn’t so surprised with that. Because what had he really expected from all of this? That Dirk would kiss him? That he’d confess he had the same feelings for him that Todd had tried to keep hidden all this time? That Dirk, who has always had loneliness as his only stable company, would throw away a year worth of friendship and adventures because Todd wanted to make out with him?

The more he thought about it the more his thoughts made him feel ill. His skin was on fire, but he didn’t know whether the furious blush was product of his shame or the anger he had with himself. He had really been that _selfish_ , not taking into consideration his own best friend’s feelings. God, his breathing got heavier, he had to calm down before Dirk asked him if everything was alright. Which of course, it wasn’t, but he didn’t need to know that.

And he thought he could be a good person… No matter how much he tried to deny it or how much others claimed it to be wrong, those attitudes he was so desperate to destroy would always come back. He’d always be the same Todd, thinking about himself first and the others second. He felt like he was about to faint.

Dirk was surely mad at him, and he was in all his right. There are certain rules concerning friendships and one of them is that you don’t try to kiss your friends when they clearly disapprove it and then refuse to talk about it. But of course, he has to be the exception, right? Guess some things never change. If he was still capable of acting like that, perhaps he didn’t even deserve the chance to do what he did. Was he spiraling? Maybe, but he couldn’t get Dirk’s voice saying how brave he was out of his mind, and even less shutting down his own voice reminding him how false that was. He was a massive jerk, a massive jerk that was getting short of breath.

It was only when he noticed the white dots dancing in his vision that he noticed something was wrong. The little air that could get through the knot in his throat–that perhaps wasn’t as imaginary as he thought–now seemed to be going completely extinct. He felt how something close to a rope wrapped around his neck, and every attempt to take it out made it get a little bit tighter.

Parts of his body began to feel numb. His sight went fully black, and the ground under his feet didn’t feel as stable anymore. He opened his mouth to speak, ask Dirk for help, _something_ , but the only thing that came out was a choked cry for help that sounded at the same time as the torch in his numb hand fell to the floor. This may have made a noisy sound that made his partner turn around with a restrained yelp.

“Todd, we’re supposed to be-!” he began to yell in a whisper, but as soon as Dirk saw him the words died in his lips. “Todd?”

But he didn’t hear him anymore. Todd was out of his senses. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear, he couldn’t feel anything from his surroundings. Only the awful sensation of darkness swallowing him bit by bit.

He tried to use his newly freed hand to stabilize himself, leaning on the nearest desk, but he slipped with one of the folders and soon enough the ground wasn’t under his feet anymore. Todd could feel consciousness slipping through his fingers at the same time someone palmed him up and down his torso. Next thing he knew there was a small thing being pressed against his lips. Seconds after he swallowed it, Todd began to feel his senses coming back one by one.

The first thing he noticed was the smell of synthetic leather close to his nose. He felt a pressure wrapping his torso, but it was different from the pressure he’d felt in his neck. It was warm and comforting, a huge difference from the cold in the air and the ground. His eyes focused, and he saw another pair of blue irises returning the look.

He identified the rest of the face that belonged to Dirk, as well as the arms that hugged him tight against his chest. He seemed worried, but also relieved once Todd answered with a grunt. His lips were smiling, but they were moving too. He was saying something.

“-my God, you’re fine. You’re lucky I know where your pills are.”

Pararibulitis. Right, with the investigation and all he must’ve forgotten to take the other dose. Added to the recent events it was unsurprising that it all developed in an attack.

“How do you feel? Does anything hurt?”

“I couldn’t see you,” Todd said. “I couldn’t hear you, I...”

Being in the dark was one of the things Todd hated the most. He didn’t like when his illness did that to him, even if it was for a few minutes. Not being conscious of what he was doing, of _who_ was around him, it was always unsettling.

And for a reason, Dirk needed to know how upsetting it was for Todd not knowing if _he_ was there.

But now there was light, even if it only was the few beams of moonlight that passed through the coloured glasses of the windows or Dirk’s own torch, lying forgotten close to them. It lightened them directly, and it made the shadows in his owner’s face move almost perfectly with every turn of his face.

The detective gave the hint of a smile that counteracted the confusion in his eyes. Todd felt something similar to a shiver as Dirk’s long fingers moved a stray hair from his forehead.

“It’s okay,” he said, pulling Todd in a hug. “I won’t go anywhere.”

He buried his face in Dirk’s Mexican Funeral t-shirt— _his_ Mexican Funeral t-shirt— and closed his eyes.

“Thanks,” he whispered.

“Don’t mention it,” the other replied, and Todd could literally hear the smile in his voice.

The door of the room opened with a swing. Dirk brought him closer, dragging him under one of the tables to provide them shelter from whoever just entered. Little steps filled the air and both of them held their breath on their lungs.

“No, the intruders aren’t here,” a voice said into what Todd presumed was their communicator. “Are you sure you saw it right?”

“Completely,” the voice of their partner said from the device. It sounded a lot like an old walkie talkie. “They were a big man and a young woman. Both dressed as goths from the strange club.”

Dirk almost gasped, and Todd had to cover his mouth before he gave them away. His friend frowned down at him and he raised a finger to his lips. Todd only hoped that Donna and Hobbs could get away from them.

“Alright, we’ll keep checking then,” the alien said, before throwing the radio-phone on top of one of the tables. “Damn, Kyla is really insistent with that stupid protocol. How much damage can two drunk punks do to our place? They’ll probably gonna think they’re seeing ghosts and publish it on the Internet like many times before.”

His companion didn’t seem to agree with them, since they clicked their tongue while walking towards the forgotten radio. “You don’t understand, this time it could be different. We’ve been ambushed by humans before.”

“You mean that thing on the bridge?” They heard how the alien laid on the same desk they were hiding behind. If they didn’t die after being discovered, Todd would die of a heart attack. “Probably they’re not the same guys.”

“And does that mean we have to take our chances? Sometimes you’re so wrong, Hash.”

“Is that so?” Hash said with a scornful huff. “Then enlighten me, what’s the worse that could happen?”

“Alright,” the other alien said after a period of silence. “Let’s just picture this then. Imagine there were humans in this room.” Todd wished there was a way to shrink himself as he heard their footsteps approaching the desk as well. “They’re hidden, listening to us _right now_.”

“Yes yes, very ominous, keep on track,” Hash said with a bored tone.

When his partner spoke again, he sounded just a little irritated. “Right. Now, what if I let the information of tomorrow’s meeting slip by? You know what would happen to us if they knew about that.”

Todd’s entire body froze within a second after they said that. He could swear even his heart stopped to let him hear the next words properly.

“Tomorrow’s meeting?” Hash mocked them. “Oh so, it would be terribly wrong if I said, I don’t know, that it’s taking place on the square of this same town _tomorrow at midday_?” He said the last words louder, as if daring any possible human that heard him run with this new information like a precious treasure. And damn if Todd didn’t feel like running now.

He looked up at Dirk, expecting to see the ‘new clue’ expression that lit up his face whenever such opportunity presented before them. What he found instead was a mix of emotions that were nothing close to that level of excitement. Confusion lead to realisation, realisation to sadness, and sadness to a strange anger Todd wasn’t used to seeing on his face. He was about to inquire him about it with a look, when the alien’s chatter forced him to focus on their words again.

“Oh c’mon, Torn, don’t look at me like that!” Hash laughed. “There’s no one else but us two inside of this room, and even if they were, that would mean nothing!”

“How are you so sure about that?”

“‘Cause there’s no possible way they’re the same humans that captured Tikao days ago. These guys have to be different.”

“That doesn’t mean they aren’t useful, though.”

“What could they possibly serve us for?”

“They could lead us to _the_ human.”

 _Hector_.

Hash let out a tired sigh. “Do we even know why he’s so important to us? They never even told us what to do with him, what makes him different from the others?”

At first all Todd heard was silence, but when torn spoke, their tone went from reproaching to confidential.

“There have been rumours,” they said. “About the relationship between the capture of this human and the search of princess Nariaan.”

“They think he could be the last one to see her alive?” Hash asked, this time a bit more serious than their previous comments.

“Even worse,” the alien said. “They think he even knew who she really was.”

Dirk jumped in his place and hit the head against the desk, making the officer leaning against it feel the movement.

Todd was going to kill him.

“What the-?”

Todd’s heart almost stopped as the steps came closer to them, but they were saved by miracle when the door of the room opened with a loud blast.

“See if you can catch us, Hobbit!” Donna yelled from the hallway.

“There they are!”

The alien picked up their radio-phone and both of them ran after Todd’s friends. He let out a sigh of relief as Dirk stood up behind him, no trace of the anger from before visible on his face.

“Well, thank God the Universe is still on our side,” he said while taking the dust out of his clothes.

Todd’s eyebrows shot up in his forehead. “Are you kidding me? We almost got caught with your stupid enthusiasm.”

“But we didn’t. Everything is connected, after all,” Dirk smiled down at him before reaching out a hand. “So? Wanna run before the horde of aliens finds us and make us skin suits?”

Todd felt like his entire body had been run over with a truck multiple times. His legs were still a little shaky, and his lungs could use the air he’d save without running.

But Dirk looked down at him with an excited smile, and he could already feel the rush of energy that came before any stupid decision in his life that, weirdly enough, involved his best friend in it.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Todd said, taking Dirk’s hand and following after him.

Of course this wasn’t going to be the exception.


End file.
